By John C.

When reviewing the masterful Never Let Me Go I was cautious not to spoil any of the plot.  It tells a story ripe for discussion, but this discussion should not be had before knowing the story.  The film premiered at TIFF and opened in limited release to decidedly mixed reviews this past Friday.

If you’ve yet to read the book or see the movie (both things you should do) please bear in mind that there are spoilers after the break.

In Kazuo Ishaguro’s novel we are not given any timeline of events, but at the beginning of Mark Romanek’s movie we are told that ‘the medical breakthrough came in 1952’ and that ‘by 1967 people were living into their 100’s.’  The explanation for this is not given until much later in the book, but on-screen comes by the end of the first act.  The students of Hailsham, who’s story we’ve been following, have been created to provide spare parts to those in need of vital organs.

After several donations they do not die, rather ‘complete,’  which in some ways makes the story easier to take because in that suitably creepy choice word we are acknowledging accomplishment.  In this dystopic alternate reality, science has provided society with a cure for cancer and other deadly diseases, but the point of this story is the clones, whom we sense society does not want to see as human.  When talk of their ‘originals’ comes into the story we realize that they would have been cloned from outcasts.

In the similarly themed book The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, a crooked dictator would have himself cloned and once every so many years would replace his failing organs.  Comparisons to Michael Bay’s The Island or Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner could also be made.  But why Never Let Me Go rises above other similar stories is that at a certain point most become escape thrillers, where this one remains quietly trapped in its own disturbing reality.

We do wonder why the students never try to flee, but we also see them as completely naive and blind to the real world.  We want them to escape because we crave excitement, but also because this is what we have come to expect from the majority of stories.  Would thoughts of fleeing occur to those cut off from the real world?  My theory is that for those who’ve always done what they’re told, thoughts of rebellion may not even occur.

At Hailsham the Guardians would ‘look into them to see if they had souls at all,’ but they already knew they did.  It was society that needed, yet didn’t want to have this proven.  Through art and love Hailsham would provide students with a somewhat normal life, but we hear that the school has closed and all facilities have been replaced by those akin to battery farms.

We don’t get any moral or medical debate about cloning, but one isn’t needed.  In the end, after a long journey where we have deeply emotionally invested in these characters, its message is simple: We are all human.  Never Let Me Go will slowly, quietly break your heart, but having your heart broken is a part of life, no matter your reason for existence.