Sociopolitical science fiction has been all but dead for a long time now. For fifty years, there’s been no successor to the horrifying visions of writers like Orwell, Bradbury, and Huxley, and at the same time those visions have somehow become redefined in the popular consciousness as passé. Prophetic works like 1984 are taught in school curriculums which nevertheless turn out generations of unfeeling, unthinking consumers completely at home in totalitarian structures and welcoming of uncountable tyrannies. But in the last few years, science fiction cinema has started to come to life, with a new set of prophetic messages, not as subtle or profound as their predecessors, but definitely more narrowly focused and direct. They range in quality from quite good (In Time) to piss-poor but well-meaning (Elysium, The Matrix), and many layers in between. Snowpiercer is the latest. I would place it solidly at the good end of the spectrum.

Like these other recent, sociopolitical sci fi films, Snowpiercer is a pretty straightforward allegory, one that uses the issue of global warming as a narrative catalyst. Basically, the greed of ultra rich corporate fuckers drive the earth’s ecosystem right over the edge, and then in desperation, science creates a compound to be released into the atmosphere that will bring the warming of the earth to “manageable” levels. But the scientists miscalculate its effects, and the earth freezes, killing everything on it. This scenario strikes me as entirely plausible, even rather likely the way we’re going, and this instantly predisposed me to like this film. The story takes place on a perpetual motion train (invented around the time of the disaster) circling the world endlessly, which becomes the only habitable place on earth, sustained by a variety of technological innovations. It’s one of the most unusual and coolest setting concepts I think I’ve ever seen.

The train society is set up like feudal society: everyone in their proper place – the rich on top, owning all the wealth, privilege, and luxury; a class of administrators who manage the society (meaning: keep the rich in power and keep the scum face down in the mud), and the “scum” themselves, the untouchables, who have nothing. This lowest caste, who ride in the very back of the train in super-horrifying conditions, decide they want to break out of their station and change train society forever. Of course, this train society is exactly like the global manifestation of modern capitalist democracy (except there a lot more of us “scum” riding in the back of our train!), and I think that’s partly the point of the film. But the film also shines as a straightforward action thriller, one that is so fresh and unusual you have no idea what is going to happen, second-to-second, for the entire length of the movie. The film is paced rapidly and jam-packed with ideas, character development, and genuine surprises. There’s no trace of laziness in this writing, in fact it’s remarkable how few loose ends there are in the story. The arc of the narrative is very satisfying, and although no one would call this film an “upper”, in the end it leaves a surprisingly good taste in your mouth, a tribute to the excellent execution of this very cool and original story idea.

The main character is played extremely well by Chris Evans, who before all his mindless, trashy, comic-book movie rolls, was in the very interesting and subversive film The Perfect Score about the horrors of the SAT. The film’s many important supporting performances are uniformly strong, especially Octavia Spencer, who breaks out of her unfortunate Hollywood type-casting to play a marvelously warm, tough and confident heroine. (I wish poor Viola Davis could somehow find a film in which to do the same thing!)

I’m going to stop here, so as to not give anything away. Snowpiercer is really fantastic! I highly recommend it!