George Lucas’s last directorial feature cost $113,000,000 to make. THX 1138 cost him $1.2 million. Let this be the mind frame you go into THX with; the knowledge that one of America's richest men was once a struggling film-maker, and a vital part of a whirlwind group of directors in the early-seventies determined to prove cinema was an art-form for the masses - and not just a systematic studio-run brand. Released in 1971, THX - a box-office failure – was for many years forgotten and soon over shadowed by his later works – American graffiti and the Star Wars saga. Now forty years old and re-mastered, it is hailed as one of the greatest science-fiction films ever made.
Perhaps the reason that THX 1138 failed so badly in the seventies is because audiences at the time felt that the connection from their world to the world lived in by the characters was too distant. Now, forty years on, THX 1138 has reached a point where it should be fully appreciated. Western Culture has done nothing to stem away from the dystopia it presents to us. In our cities, we are stalked by CCTV, on our TVs and in our newspapers we are thrown advertisements and propaganda, pharmaceutical drugs are now more varied and complex, our population - spiralling out of control; the world which once frustrated George Lucas and inspired him to make this film seems to have developed and expanded into something worse. THX 1138 has had such an impact on me because it seems like the world is growing closer and closer into its numbing, heartless society.
THX’s opening sequence charts the construction of an “officer” – a robot crafted for the sole purpose of upholding the many suppressive and chilling laws and regulations of an underground dystopian society. The gold-faced giants – clearly prototypes for a rather well-known later golden man – are a product of this sinister society which controls them, much like its brain-washed citizens; whose lives are under constant surveillance and control. In this underground city where sexual activity is prohibited, death is an inconvenience and love is non-existent; individual thoughts are numbed and ignored. Human life is controlled through drugs designed to give focus and numb stimulation of the brain. Though the storyline is complex, THX is an absorbing watch which tears popular culture to pieces - everything from religion, to media and the justice system are grated. Its purpose it prove that even in a world where joy is not known and life is not valued, spirit alone can defeat even the most sophisticated form of suppression.
Robert Duvall plays the title character of THX 1138, a brain-washed product of a sedated society. The characters of this world are all bald, dressed in white clothes, manufactured to maintain a world of which they know nothing beyond its rules and regulations. THX 1138’s life - though infinitely more sinister - bears a striking resemblance to the lives of many modern men. His work consumes most of his time and efforts and his home-life with his partner, or in this world his “mate” since she only serves one purpose, is leaving him unhappy and ill. Under the guidance of his mate, “LUH” he begins to abandon the drugs which have made his mind so narrow and numbed. When he does he shows love for his wife, awareness of the sinister society which rules over him and a disregard for its rules. It is not long before the state separates the two (for illegal sexual activity). Thus begins THX’s thrilling and surreal journey into the chilling heart of his own world, where he must overcome conformity, suppression, brain-washing and above all else – his own fear of stepping out of line – in order to free himself.
The big question throughout this film however is: is there such a thing as freedom? For the entirety of the film there is nothing but strikingly-bright white walls, white clothes and the non-stop ramblings of all the characters and extras – giving off a dizzying claustrophobia which leaves the viewer feeling often as boggled and ill as its main character. We question whether there is anything beyond this future world.
Duvall gives a strong performance as the robotic and distressed THX 1138 – the strongest and most prominent in the film. Other characters are thrown into the story but almost immediately withdrawn, the only other regular face being Donald Pleasance’s “SEN”. It is well-known that involving the audience with the characters has always been one of Lucas’s flaws as a film-maker, and in THX all other characters are practically meaningless. This is a film between THX 1138 and the golden-face of authority. Robert Duvall’s pitch-perfect performance has made sure that we sit through the film with no knowledge of THX’s desires, absorbing us into the emotionless mans foray into recklessness.
Having been found guilty of “sedation depletion” – we watch as THX’s fate is decided in a white-walled court. Duvall’s face shows no emotion to the heartless deciders as they contemplate his “immediate destruction” amongst each other. This is one of many glimpses into this world where death is neither dreaded nor feared; but simply an unfortunate inevitability. Our first glimpse of this is in the film’s opening sequence, we watch on a surveillance screen as a blast kills around sixty citizens. THX 1138 shows not even a drop of sadness as the news is announced to him from the unsympathetic voice of the city. They are warned – with no tone of caring – to be safe.
THX 1138 is sentenced to imprisonment in a detention facility, a futuristic jail where the film’s most head-achingly bizarre –and greatest- moments unfold. He is joined in this facility by Donald Pleasance’s strange, delusional SEN and several other unruly clones imprisoned for their attempts to break the system. The characters, with their white clothing, against the endless white that is their jail appear as nought but floating heads and hands, barely distinguishable. The atmosphere is enormously unsettling and after not long in this environment, we feel THX 1138’s pain and boredom as he is forced to listen to the non-stop ramblings of SEN and the other inmates; most of whom once dreamt of escaping their sinister world. We feel the full struggle of THX’s life in this blinding environment, the human being which has been stripped of pleasure and brain-washed to conformity and restriction. This contributes to the energy of the film, we feel THX’s blood boiling and brain working behind his emotionless expressions – and it is not long before he sets off from the other inmates in pursuit of an escape route. THX 1138 and SEN are forced to walk through hours of blinding nothingness, discovering from an early stage that their great escape is flawed by the fact that the detention centre appears to have not exit. With the help of Hologram “SRT” an exit is eventually found, the inmates are reported missing and the chase begins.
The last half hour of THX is the most exciting in the film, but the excitement you feel whilst watching seems to be numbed by the overwhelming feeling that THX may never find a way out of the white walls which contain him; we watch and hope for him – but the hope seems wasted as he is pursued by authorities and stalked by CCTV. He splits from his fellow escapee’s, and gradually the others fall prey to the all-powerful state which rules over them. SEN- whose lack of recklessness shows as he gives up an apparently pointless escape – becomes a victim of the society he helped maintain and gives himself up peacefully, defeated to the officers. THX’s escape continues in a cat-and-mouse sequence which even boasts a car chase. It is a strange sort of suspense we feel as it unfolds, the atmosphere of the film colliding massively with the films action; but it is nonetheless gripping. The film’s final moments won’t fail to disappoint; the character of THX 1138 really coming out of his shell as he delves further and further into the unknown until eventually we end up at the film’s beautiful, should-be-iconic final shot.
The dystopian world of THX 1138 is an imitation of our own; and it’s purpose as a film is to channel a young George Lucas’ frustration and anger at his own times. Worth noting is the film’s slate of religion. In THX 1138’s world they worship “OMM” from unit chapels (futuristic church confessionals). In some early scenes in the film THX 1138 seeks refuge and comfort in one of these, the large staring face of their religion gazing from the booth, resembling a certain religious icon from our own world. In one of the film most excellent moments THX 1138 begs for help from OMM, desperately praying and vomiting in the unit chapel, while the chapel speaks pre-recorded messages of comfort, ignorant of his suffering. We are given snippets of the mechanics of the unit chapel, the wires and chips which THX seeks comfort in - the shots are mesmerising and thought-provoking; when we see the chapel as the machine it is we see the heartlessness of this bleak future in full. The chapel - an empty shell. Their religion – not so much a giver of false hope; just plain false.
THX also derides many other aspects of popular culture such as the descent – in the late 60’s/early 70s – television began into more edgy viewing material. The hologrammed “TV circuits” which THX 1138 watches in his home at the start of the film feature all the human mind needs to remain satisfied - and nothing more. A snippet of propaganda here, a slice of nudity there and to top it all off – some first-class violence (two officers beating a guilty man with their batons endlessly); and he watches these strange and disturbing things bearing the expression any one of us may whilst watching a sitcom. These TV circuits spoon feed THX snippets of enjoyment and pleasure, brain-washing him all the while. It also addressed a growing uneasiness felt at the time with surveillance and the rapidly growing CCTV culture; a theme also addressed in (THX’s executive producer) Francis Ford Coppolla’s excellent “The Conversation.” The people of THX 1138’s environment are stalked relentlessly by surveillance, unable to put a toe out of line. Is modern life much different?
The film also boast some of the best visuals in any film George Lucas has directed, including the more recent flicks filmed entirely on green screen. Lucas has often been criticised – with the star wars especially – for merely placing a camera on a stand and filming what is directly in front of him, but in THX a lot of time and effort seems to have been spent on composing strange and absorbing shots. The camera has been mastered with precision and expertise here, a feature of the film which would have been more than welcome in Lucas’s later works. THX’s greatest strength is in its superb editing, every shot flows fluently into the next, the sounds forever complimenting the actions of the characters and the mood of the film. One scene in particular where THX 1138 is probed and jabbed for a medical examination is borderline cheerful – something this film desperately does not want to be. As afore mentioned however, the greatest weakness in the film is the lack of development in the smaller, promising characters such as THX’s mate LUH who is quickly removed from the film and never seen again. Yes, in this film we need no one but the title character and his pursuers to keep us company on his journey, but something about the abandonment of the rest of the cast feels like a waste.
I would not recommend THX 1138 for those of you (cough - idiots - cough) who are not fans of the Star Wars saga; nor would I recommend it to a great lover of the Star Wars saga. It is, like all the greatest Sci-fi’s an acquired taste – 2001, Blade Runner and more recently Moon, to name a few. It is only eighty-five minutes long but it drags along with it a lot of weight and requires a lot of thinking; thus making it seem much longer. It was at the time, and still is to this date, more surrealist art than film. Comparing this film to such Sci-fi’s as Avatar would be like comparing a Salvador Dali painting to a Monet in my opinion. Yes, Monet could paint beautiful, colourful paintings; but did he make me question the bridges he painted? It takes a lot of inspiration from classics such as Metropolis and fifties science fiction films like The Day the Earth Stood Still and channels them into a haunting and sinister society; the likes of which you will never have seen in any film before and never will again.
Perhaps the reason that THX 1138 failed so badly in the seventies is because audiences at the time felt that the connection from their world to the world lived in by the characters was too distant. Now, forty years on, THX 1138 has reached a point where it should be fully appreciated. Western Culture has done nothing to stem away from the dystopia it presents to us. In our cities, we are stalked by CCTV, on our TVs and in our newspapers we are thrown advertisements and propaganda, pharmaceutical drugs are now more varied and complex, our population - spiralling out of control; the world which once frustrated George Lucas and inspired him to make this film seems to have developed and expanded into something worse. THX 1138 has had such an impact on me because it seems like the world is growing closer and closer into its numbing, heartless society.
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