Gattaca

Vincent (Ethan Hawkes) is conceived through sex a ‘faith birth’. When only a few seconds old the nurse tests his blood and tells his mother he has a 89% chance of attention deficit disorder, a 99% chance of heart disease and a life expectancy of 30. I found this part of the film quite chilling and it was the clip shown on Newsnight that made me eager to see this film.

From this point on Vincent’s future is assured he is an ‘invalid’, genetically inferior with most jobs being closed to him because of his DNA. Vincent’s parents choose to conceive their next child artificially. Vincent’s brother Anton is born free of diseases and shortsightedness.

There was an interesting part in the film when the parents are told the doctor took the liberty of freeing Anton of myopia and premature baldness, the parents say they wanted him free of diseases but wanted to leave something to chance.

Anton is predestined to get a good job while Vincet is predestined to be a cleaner. His parents watch in desperation as he daydreams about going on a space mission. Vincent leaves home and looses touch with his family.He ends up cleaning at the prestigious Gattica space station.

Gattica takes the best of the elite, people manufactured to be mentally and physically perfect. Vincent has a burning desire to be one of them and to fly on a space mission. He embarks upon a dangerous plan to get into Gattica. He contacts a man who deals in the sale of genetic identities.

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