As soon as I saw in the cinema schedule that the creator of masterpieces like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola, had made another film, I immediately decided that I was going to see it. The film is ambiguous for many, although more than unambiguous for me. I saw people walking out of it, but I consider it one of the best films I've seen in recent years. This time, Coppola did something really strange and unusual, even for his style.
The plot takes place in an alternative version of a modern city, which here is called New Rome. The city is in crisis, and its future becomes a point of contention between two people. On one side is the talented architect Cesar Catilina, dreaming of building a new society and changing the world for the better. On the other are conservative forces that prefer to preserve the existing order of things. Many characters here are more symbols of certain ideas than ordinary people with conventional motivations.
Coppola served as screenwriter, director, and producer of this film. He spent a huge amount of time creating it, because the film is perfectly worked out in detail, and every scene raises a separate issue. He is already 85 and, unfortunately, he is unlikely to live to see his next masterpiece, so this film can quite reasonably be considered his final word on the meaning of life (which, by the way, largely coincides with my own point of view).
Megalopolis raises a whole host of big questions at once.
The first of these is politics. The film reflects a great deal on who actually runs society. Formally, decisions are made for the majority, but in fact power often ends up in the hands of a small group of people with money, influence, and connections. Many decisions are made not for the people, but to preserve one's own position. One of the film's central themes becomes the death of empires and states. Coppola seems to ask: what leads great civilizations to decline, and why does humanity repeat the same mistakes over and over again? Society proves capable of destroying its own leader if his ideas turn out to be too complex or inconvenient to understand. One of the main political questions becomes whether an ideal society can even be built.
The second theme of the film is the conflict between old and new. Almost the entire conflict of the film is built on the confrontation between the past and the future. The older generation does not accept the new not because it is necessarily bad, but because they do not understand it. Many of the rumors about the harm of new technologies in the film resemble humanity's real fears of any major changes. This is exactly why innovators so often encounter misunderstanding. One of the film's important messages can be formulated as follows: we should not let short-term interests destroy what could benefit future generations. Among the main questions here are: where is the line between a genius and a person detached from reality? And what is more important: stability or progress?
The next issue of the film is already more philosophical and concerns the individual. The film constantly asks: what drives humanity forward—cooperation or competition? Friendship or rivalry? It gives no single answer. Career, ambition, and power often turn out to be more important than personal relationships. Many heroes are ready to sacrifice loved ones to achieve their goals. Some characters are willing to endure humiliation and injustice for a long time for a higher purpose. An important role is played by the theme of acknowledging one's own mistakes. Not all heroes are capable of this, but it is precisely such moments that become some of the most powerful in the film.
One cannot ignore the theme of morality either. In Megalopolis, the law very often does not coincide with morality. What is considered right by law is very often not right from a human point of view. Envy, revenge, greed, vanity, and the thirst for power run through the entire film. One gets the impression that Coppola deliberately gathered almost all the basic human vices into one story. Many characters constantly face a choice between principles and profit, and blackmail becomes one of the tools of political struggle.
Moving on. The fifth theme of the film is time. A special place is occupied precisely by the theme of time. The protagonist literally dreams of subjugating it, but behind the fantastic facade lies a quite philosophical question: is man capable of overcoming the limitations of his own era?
And finally, in the concluding sixth block, I'll just share a few thoughts. Some of the film's key ideas are spoken by an ordinary taxi driver. As if the director is deliberately showing that wisdom can come not only from politicians, philosophers, or scientists. Despite the overall absurdity of what is happening, this absurdity surprisingly fits into the film's logic and becomes part of its world. By the way, the film has many quotes, especially from Marcus Aurelius, as if Coppola had been collecting them all his life.
After watching, many people should be left not so much with an understanding of what happened, but with a desire to figure out exactly what Coppola wanted to say.
