Total Recall team#9

Total Recall 1990

Karen Kamel

Rose Wettring

Ayodele Olaniyan

Claudia de Felice

     

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DwNb-ZGVjE

The title of the film is Total Recall. It was made in 1990 and its director is Paul Verhoeven. The screenwriters are Philip K. Dick, Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett and Gary Goldman. The running time of the film is 113 minutes (1h and 53 minutes) (total recall 1990).

In the years 2084, a construction worker called Douglas Quaid is having bizarre dreams about the planet Mars and a mysterious woman who seems very familiar. Quaid has been married to Lori for 8 years and she has been oddly ignoring the dreams and demoralizing him about his desire to move to Mars. One day, Doug Quaid sees an ad for a ‘travel company’ called “Rekall”. He decides to go pay them a visit so that he could finally visit the planet he’s been dreaming about. “Rekall” supplies memory implants of vacations; Quaid asks for a memory implant in which he goes to Mars as a secret agent. During the procedure, something goes wrong and Quaid is going insane. He is fighting and is getting stronger which scares the employees. They think he was already a secret agent before because they did not implanted the memory of the character yet. They decide to calm him down and make him lose his memory. On his way back home, multiple men are trying to kill him for no reason, he managed to kill them all and to go back to his house. Later on, Quaid learns that he his living in a lie for over 6 weeks and that Lori is not actually his wife. She is there to monitor him and that all the dreams he had in the past are just old memories that he has of his past a Hauser, a secret agent. He also learns that the reason he is being chased and attacked is that he used to work for Cohaagen, but decided to switch sides and to betray his old boss. Quaid decides to go to Mars, in an other way, to have answers to his questions and to find the mysterious girl that he is seeing in his dreams, but he keeps getting chased by Richter, Cohaagen’s operator who wants him dead.

Several film techniques were effectively used in Total Recall, including framing, sounds, editing, lighting and special effects.
One technique that was used multiple times in the movie was the framing technique. Throughout the movie, there is a lot of medium-shots. One of the scene that was filmed in a medium-shot was when Dr. Edgemar paid a visit to Quaid at the hotel and told him that he was not actually present, the framing was medium-shot. The cameraman framed the actors from the waist up so that we could see their facial expressions without being in a full close-up frame. With this type of framing, we could see their facial expressions without being in  full close-up frame. With this type of framing, we can see their reaction and body language. We can also have a glance at the actions taken place in the background. During the scene, Quaid was interrogating Dr. Edgemar which made him nervous. Because of the way this scene was framed, we could see both of them tense up by their body-language, but not for the same reason. We could also see a few of their facial expressions which gave us a real overview of their emotions.

The second cinematic technique used in the movie was the sound. A diegetic sound was used in the scene when Doug and Harry are fighting. Doug breaks Harry’s arm and there is a strong sound of cracking to emphasize the action. The sound comes from a source (the arm) in the movie environment. Another sound technique used in the film was an internal diegetic sound. It was used in the scene when Kuato says “Open your mind” to Doug to help him gain back his memory. Even when Kuato was not there anymore, Doug had thoughts about what he said, as if he was still hearing him in his head, like an echo. We could hear that Quaid was repeating to himself what Kuato said to him previously.

 To add up, editing was the third cinematic technique used in the film. There was a specific scene that used the cross-cutting technique to edit. When Melina and Doug are missing air in the desert, there is a cross-cutting because, in that same exact moment, everything is exploding in Venusville. This type of editing is practical when the editor wants to show how one situation can affect different people in different places. This also has suspense because we don’t know if they will die or if they will all survive. Another editing technique used in the movie is fading. The editor used the fading technique to separate two scenes. He used it when they filmed the reactor, it then faded to Kuato’s eye. This type of editing gave the impression that Kuato just got a flashback and gained a bit of memory or that he was in a pensive mood.

Lighting was another important technique highlighted often in the film.  Low-key was the type of lighting used in the scene where Quaid kills Benny. The choice of this lighting was very accurate because “Mysteries and suspense thrillers are also often shot in low-key light” (Golden 14). Having a low-key lighting in a scene where someone gets killed emphasizes the emotions of sadness or revenge. In the case of Quaid and Benny, Quaid was not sad that he killed Benny, it was an act of revenge but the lighting made the scene even more gruesome. The technique of lighting was used in the scene when Melina came to the rescue of Quaid when he was fighting with Lori. As soon as she opened the elevator door, the other type of lighting which is high-key lighting took place. This choice of lighting showed that Melina was there to save Quaid and not to hurt him. It is also used to differentiate the bad guys from the heroes.

Finally, the special effect technique was used frequently in Total Recall. A lot of scenes were ideally based on this technique. For example, At the beginning of the film, the scene when Tiffany, McClane's assistant, was putting on nail polish. She was basically using a pen that she was applying on her nails to change their color. This effect shows how advanced the technology is in the year 2084. Another example, the scene when Quaid was wearing a woman mask when he wanted to escape to mars and not get caught by Cohaagen's men. The way the mask was designed in the movie was very creative and it looked exactly like a real face and not just a normal mask. This special effect also highlights the idea of the advanced technology in 2084.


The first main theme addressed by the film Total Recall is Dream vs. Reality. In effect, the movie does not explicitly tell the audience whether Quaid, the main character, is dreaming, is living in reality or is doing both. It was really confusing to find an answer to such controversy. To explain, the character of Quaid was not quite sure if he was actually dreaming the whole time. However, Lori, Quaid’s wife, informed him later in the movie that all his life was just a dream and nothing was ever real. So, the audience don’t know if Quaid got a memory implant and went to Mars in actual fact or was this part of his dream?  

The second theme raised in the movie is the substitution of humans by Artificial Intelligence (AI). As the story of the film Total Recall takes place in the year 2084, the aspect of advanced technology is greatly highlighted. Throughout the movie, a lot of scenes demonstrate the fact that Artificial Intelligence is able to replace humans in many fields of work. For example, the taxi cabs which Quaid used often in Mars to move easily were driven by robots. This anticipates that at some point in the future humans may lose their jobs and get substituted by machines which will raise the problem of automation because of the development of AI.

The third theme raised in the movie is the mental manipulation. In the movie, people could go to this place called ‘Rekall’ and travel to another planet without even moving from the chair. The people working there would transplant a memory implant into their patient’s brain so that they would have the memories of a trip they did not actually do. This procedure is very dangerous since they would play with someone’s brain and memory. When they messed up, they took a part of Quaid’s memory and completely erased it. They also transplanted false memories in Quaid’s brain so that he could think that he’s been married to Lori for 8 years, which is not true. They manipulated his brain and took control over it. The movie is about the manipulation that ‘Rekall’ and Cohaagen did to Quaid’s brain.

1141 words 

In our opinion, the movie “Total Recall” was a horrible movie and we would not recommend it to anyone. First of all, what we did not like about the movie is that the story is very confusing at first and you only understand parts of it at the very end of the viewing. During the whole movie, we were very confused and and the story-line did not make any sense which was distracting and annoying. We also found out that the story-line was very chaotic, there was a lot of non-important characters and the scenes were confusing. In addition, the editing was mostly cut and the scene were very short and quick so we did not have the time to process everything. It’s the type of movie that you need to watch multiple times to get every single details. Another aspect that we did not like was the acting, it was not the best, especially Arnold Schwarzenegger. We found that some parts were not well played, principally when special effects were in the scene. We think they exaggerated a lot. For example, When Melina and Quaid were brought back by Cohaagen to get Hauser’s memory re-implanted, their reactions were too intense and made the scene look fake and almost ridiculous. Lastly, the special effects were terrible and exaggerated. The movie could have been more realistic and good if the special effects were better.

The Film's Rate 

     

1) The key concept of Metaphysics is very present in this movie, the whole concept of dreams is beyond physics. Quaid never knows if it is real life or just a dream because his dreams seems so real. At the end of the movie, Quaid says to Melina “I just had a terrible thought...What if this is all a dream?” and she answers “Then kiss me quick...before you wake up”. Doug still had trouble believing that it was real life after what he just witnessed because he had these dreams before. How does he know id he is awake? He also learns later on in the movie that he is not who he thinks he is and that he has another identity and a past that he does not remember. What is his being? Who is Quaid? Who is Hauser? Are they both real or one of them was just a dream?

2) Another concept that has a connection with the movie is Axiology. Is ‘Rekall’ a good thing? ‘Rekall’ is a “vacation company” that supplies memory implants of vacations in the brain of their clients. During their procedure, they are playing with their clients memory and brain which is not very safe, it can actually be very dangerous. Is it morally acceptable? The idea is not morally bad, ‘Rekall’ wants to help their customers experience traveling on the planets but the way they do their procedure is morally unacceptable. The fact that they would enslave people on Mars is also very immoral. The population on Mars were used as slaves by Cohaagen and they were not being treated as humans. For example, the scene where everyone is missing air in Venustown, Cohaagen did not care at all if the population was going to die which is also not morally acceptable.

3) Epistemology is the third concept which can be connected with the film. It is the study of knowledge (Golden, 21). This concept is frequently highlighted in the film. To explain, the character of Cohaagen plays the role of someone who mainly knows everything and is responsible for everything in the movie. For example, he owned the company ' Rekall' that implemented the fake memory trip in Quaid's memory. However, Quaid who is the main character of the film has absolutely no idea about what is true and what is false as he lately learned in his life that the whole life he was living was just a dream and nothing was ever true. He gained this knowledge from Lori, his wife, who essentially works for Cohaagen. As well, the audience gain their knowledge from Cohaagen and not from Quaid as he does not know anything. This can explain that Cohaagen's character is omniscient in the film and basically knows everything well enough.

Provocative Questions:

1-Does Douglas Quaid really go to Mars after his virtual trip goes wrong, or was he dreaming the whole time?   

2-  In the future, could Artificial Intelligence successfully replace jobs that today require humans in order to operate? (i.e. taxi drivers, etc)



3- Is it okay for those with more power to manipulate and trick the minds of those with less power in order to benefit themselves?

Web-links elaborating the film's themes or content

Weblink 1 - www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dream-catcher/201106/dream-and-reality

This article explains how our mind sometimes believes that we are living and going about our everyday lives, when in reality we are just dreaming. The different senses that come with it and the different types of “false awakenings” that make us believe we are actually awake when we are in fact still dreaming, are explained throughout the text. The author is a Professor of Neurology at Boston University has done many studies behind the science of dreams. The earliest reportings of the sensation of false awakening and being unsure of the mind’s state of consciousness, goes all the way back to approximately 300 BC.

Weblink 2 - www.youtube.com/watch?v=r211u89eUaY

This video gives a list of 15 jobs that will disappear completely in the near future due to Artificial Intelligence. Each job is accompanied by a detailed explanation as to why it isn’t completely crazy to think that so many of the jobs that we see around us everyday, will probably be taken over by robots during our lifetime. Due to this, many people will be out of work. As a young 20-30 year old, finding a new career wouldn’t be overly challenging, but for older people approaching retirement, this could be a major setback and have negative effects on these people's lives.

References

"Total Recall 1990." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 27 April 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Recall_(1990_film)

Golden, John. "Introducing Cinematic and Theatrical Elements in Film." Knowing the Inner Self. Kelly Mckinney. Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue John Abbott College, 2019. 9-17

McNamara, Patrick. “Dream and Reality: How do you know that you are not dreaming?”. Psychology
Today. 6 June, 2011.