Fantastic Planet (La planète sauvage) — I Didn’t Know Film Could Look Like This *spoilers*
“I was just a living plaything that dared to rebel.”
Date watched: August 20, 2020
Date released: 1973
Director: René Laloux
Writers (adapted): Roland Topor and René Laloux
Original Book: Fantastic Planet by Stefan Wul
Memorable Cast: Jennifer Drake (Tiwa), Jean Valmont (Adult Terr/Narrator), and Yves Barsacq (Om)
Awards (won a Special Award at Cannes Film Festival)
Watching this surrealist French wonderland felt like my favorite art was coming to life and is the best thing I’ve seen in a long time. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I’ve been this excited about a film.
I love surrealism and have come to really appreciate animation, so it was surprising that I haven’t stumbled upon this gem sooner. But two minutes in I knew that I would never forget this film and that it would be one of my favorites for a long time. Aside from the beautiful animation and art, this movie has a very interesting and philosophical story.
It takes place on an alien planet where humans (Oms) are oppressed and treated as pets or pests while blue aliens (Draags) rule. This takes an interesting stance to show speciesism, the entitlement people feel over other species that leads to human’s exploitation of other animals, and how we hurt them. Despite their acknowledgement of sentience, Draags are unable to see Oms as intelligent or worthy of life. This lack of empathy causes them to feel dominant and kill them in a genocide like fashion because of wild Oms that do not want to be tame. See the Oms don’t want to be like the Draags, but the Draags are unwilling to believe that another species can be as intelligent as them and that another species wouldn’t want to be like them. So, the tame Oms are treated like pets that are used for their entertainment.
The film suggests that we, as humans, are the Draggs. That we oppress other animals and demand superiority over others. It’s interesting to watch this now while people are being so forthcoming with their feelings of superiority; whether it’s over other species, like the story shows, or over other people. Both situations don’t have true logical depth to back up why people are unnecessarily cruel to other animals or why people are racist/homophobic/xenophobic/transphobic/misogynistic/islamophobic/ableist/anti-semitic/etc. Just as in this story, one of our biggest faults is human nature’s superiority complex.
This story also posits that any species in power would do the same. When the humans have a revolution and try to escape they end up finding another planet with greek statues. Soon, the Draggs’ meditation bubbles inhabit these statues and essentially mate. But the humans kill them, causing distress and the Draags to beg for peace. Despite these humans being oppressed and subjected to a genocide, they still wish to inflict pain on another in their weakest state. They are unable to learn even though they have become ‘enlightened’ by being educated and rebelling. They aren’t the victims of this story because they are just as violent and cruel as the Draag. It’s almost as if it’s natural to hurt.
And as the movie is finishing, it pans out from a young Draag learning about that story from the learning device while petting a new pet. This shows how this cycle of oppression is almost inevitable, even if there is the effort to try and change. Even though the Draags allowed the Oms to have a stature in society, they just replaced them with another animal. It seems to take a different view of the natural order but that instead of predator and prey, humans feel they are gods compared to other animals. Essentially: speciesism is human nature. It’s a pretty pessimistic stance to take.
It leaves the viewer with slight discomfort with their superiority and the thoughts of what their true nature might be, hopefully encouraging them to think about how they treat others.
Rating: 9/10
This movie is on my all time favorites list.
August 21, 2020