 I'll wake up in the middle of the night. Oh, I should have said that. Yeah. Welcome back to life lessons in film. And today we will be making sense of life through Snowpiercer. Yeah. First Bong Joon-ho movie I saw. And it blew my mind. This time. No, no, no. In the past, right? Because this was the second that you watched. I think it was the third time, yeah. Yeah. It was the second time for me. Yeah. Oh. No, the movie. Basically, Global Warman gets to the point where they got to take some extreme measures and they shoot this chemical in the air, freezes the whole earth way too much, kind of has the opposite effect. Everything dies off except for this train that they built is like a contingency plan that just manages to keep going around the whole earth. And they managed to get a couple humans on to it before everything freezes over. But because the structures that were in place while that was happening kind of maintained themselves as the people got on the train. So the train is a nice metaphor for how the modern world is shaped up to be. So in the back of the train, you've got just the unwashed masses, those that have been poverty unemployed, they're just there. As you go up the train, there's all these different sectors like those that produce the food to feed those in the back of the train. Just chucking in bugs into a big, big churner and send out them protein bars. And they got like places where they have aquariums and they got to keep the ecosystem in balance so they can make sushi twice a year. And then as you go up, people are just living more and more extravagant lavish. Yeah, some people are just getting blitzed at a club part of the train like the whole time that's their existence every day. Day to day. Yeah. There's a school part of the, for kids, part of the train where they take a few kids up from, well, the kids that they sometimes take from the back of the train, they're actually used to work the engine at the front of the train. But the other kids are just parts of certain elite parts of the train and they get educated there. They actually get an education whereas the kids at the back just have to learn how to scrounge. Yeah. So, you know, just living on a lot of bunk beds and squalor. And then it follows as several of them in the back of the bus are getting these messages from this person they feel like is on their side, pushing them to revolt. And they make a move. And then they managed to actually start making their way to the front of the train and seeing just how the train system is set up. And yeah, it's based off of Grubber novel, I think, but I haven't read it, but I feel like the movie at least did that justice, if not just transcended so many great characters, so many great moments. One of my favorites is Gilliam, played by John Hurt, mainly because it's just John Hurt. But also it's a very cool character because the backstory is that you find out that the main character is friends with this old man Gilliam, because the old man Gilliam stopped the main character, Chris Evans character from eating a baby because they got to the point where they were eating babies. Yeah, it was bad. It was bad because they didn't have food for those at the back of the train at the beginning. So they just started eating each other? Just started eating each other. And babies apparently are delicious. Yeah, they tasted better. Yeah, they taste better. I don't know if they're delicious. They taste better. And Gilliam decides to cut off one of his arms to stop them. You're like, if you're hungry, eat this. Why don't you just eat me? Leave the baby please. Come on, let's have a little. And then they just that snap them back into. Yeah. Oh, right. We don't do this, do we? This is not. This is a new thing. Understandably, that that act of kindness created a lot of respect for Gilliam, for probably everyone in the back of the train. But turns out the game is also in cahoots. Yeah. Yeah. Big plot twist. Great plot twist in that movie. Yeah, but that's it. And yeah, he was in cahoots the whole time with Ann Harris, who is the one running the train. Yeah, we'll call him again. Oh, the Waldo? It's a big W. Yeah, I don't remember. Waldo or something. I'm not Waldo. The whole time they're like, where's Waldo? Yeah, it's like a Whimmerson or something. Wilfred. Wilfred. Yeah. So Gilliam, I really like because there's that, it's, I don't know, he's a complicated character. Because I think he genuinely is a good person. I think, you know, you could be an informant for the front, those in power and control. I mean, was he an informant per se? Because an informant suggests that they, that they were sides. Right. But with Ann Harris and Gilliam, who was the, what's Ann Harris' name? They're on the same, they're on the same side. Yeah. Yeah. Just that they made, like they had different stations. Yeah, that's true. That's true. So it's not like, yeah. Yeah, Gilliam and Ann Harris both felt like this is just my role in keeping the system going. Yeah. So Gilliam realized that I'm just, I got to keep Ed at the front knowing what's going on in the back here. And because you find out that to keep the equilibrium of the population of the train, every so often you got to, you got to spike, spike or be a catalyst for revolts to whittle down as the people revolt. And a lot of people get killed in the process. It helps keep the population in balance. Yeah. So Gilliam and Ed, they're talking all the time. I don't know how exactly, on the phone or something. They got some kind of phones they're able to communicate with. They're talking all the time. Yeah. And so, yeah. So really, they just look at it as, well, this is just my part to play. Yeah. So the whole point is that everybody has a role to play. So that the train is set up in that, with that mindset. Even the people that are struggling the most that had to eat the babies, they had to eat the babies in order for the system to be maintained. Yeah. So basically, there cannot be any pain, any success or longevity or continuity of life of humanity without certain sacrifices. And some of those sacrifices include eating babies, nurturing certain situations where there would be a revolt and you want this because then it gets you're allowed to... Well, it helps you kill people off. Yeah. Basically, which you will need to do because people keep having kids. Yes. And then you have to keep a certain level of the population at a certain level. Yeah. In order for the train to... Yeah. And it also, I think, creates that it maintains a certain strength to the train system because there's that natural push to revolt when you're at the back of the train or just at the bottom of the barrel or bottom of the, you know. Yeah. So you have to keep, there's that little bit of hope that keeps them going, believing, oh, like, there's a chance it's not because they are kept unaware that this is just part, like, oh, it's time to do another revolt. Yeah. This time it's... It's gonna work. It's gonna work, you know. Yeah. So you keep people believing. Yeah. The train for us, honestly, we talked about it. And I feel like a lot of people probably feel this way. The train is just a metaphor for the world. And the only question is, do you agree with the things that you saw in the movie, right? Do you agree, for example, that government, right? Because in this situation, Gilliam... Is it Gilliam? Yeah. Or Gillum? It's Gilliam. And Ed Harris, Wilfred? Yeah. They are government, honestly. Like, even though Gilliam is out there, living with the people, with the commoners, he's still government, right? Because it's strategy. And someone has to be stationed somewhere. It's kind of like, if you have the diplomatic core, someone is gonna be stationed in this fancy country, and then someone is gonna be stationed somewhere where it's kind of really tough, where life isn't really easy, and there's no water, all these kinds of things, that's part of life. But they're on the same team, and they're earning the same salary at the end of the day. So for me, this was really a metaphor for life. And yeah. And I think personally, I believe that it was a good depiction of it. Oh, I think the great thing about it, I believe, is that it's a pretty easy metaphor to get. But it's also, there's so much stuff there that, for instance, I like dividing up the sections of people in our world into the train cars, because the train cars are a great way to show a very obvious divide between people. So you have the people that are just getting massaged all the time, getting their hair done, having sushi, or just getting blitzed on party drugs. A lot of those people that live that lifestyle all the time really are cut off from other portions of the population in a very, almost feel as like they're just in a totally separate world. And the train really makes it feel like these are all separate worlds that people are in. There's a lot of people, celebrities getting called out for what, for being tone deaf. Why are celebrities tone deaf? Because they don't live the way that you do. They don't know these things that you experience. And so it's definitely, you're not top of mind. Your experience is on top of mind for them. And for people that get frustrated with Kim Kardashian for renting a private island during COVID, I feel like it is, maybe don't, maybe do that, maybe don't announce it to the world if you, but at the same time, they're living in this world where they'll probably notice, oh you've gotten some hate from people for making that comment, but they're so detached from that car, that stage car that other people that are upset with her, Kim Kardashian are living in, that they're like, they also know the game, they'll blow over, there's so many new news stories, they know people will be upset with Kim Kardashian, and then they'll forget to move on to something else. And then after a dozen news stories, they'll be into Kim Kardashian's new product line or new show or whatever. Yeah, it happens so many times. So they know that you can generally kind of, these are the parameters of whatever car, whatever train section you find yourself in, these are kind of the parameters that you can kind of do things, operate within. Yeah, and even when celebrities do try to qualify, they're a conduct, they never get it right, like because they don't actually understand the thing, the context for which they have to qualify their actions, right? So if you're talking about things like, okay, well I'm going on this trip, but we are fully vaxed, we made sure everybody got fully vaxed, still not enough, because you're not reflecting on the fact that fully vaxed or not, billions of people could not afford to go on an island, you know what I mean? Billions of people lost their jobs because of COVID. So they couldn't even save up to go on a holiday. So that person, she doesn't understand that whatsoever. So that is the reality. And so in this train, you have people like that, they have no context, they have no sensitivity at all for the people. Even the kids, even the kids that were getting, the privileged kids that were getting an education, when the people at the back are trying to now break out and go towards the front of the train to find Wilfrid, they see these people as scum and they feel like no, they do belong at the end of the train, they don't believe, they don't belong here with us. They also are kind of restricted in their own way, you know, yeah, they're the ones that actually get an education, but it's a very restricted education because it's only within certain parameters that they're allowed, meaning that they're completely ignorant of how other people are living, which I think also restricts their awareness of the world. And that happens, right? You have people that- And of course, that serves the whole, the government on it, the train, the government in the train, it serves the purpose of, they need, you know, like privileged people need to have a certain mindset, just as people that are underprivileged need to have a certain mindset, because that's how you balance, keep things balanced, right? Yeah. Now the whole thing at the end of the movie basically is, you know, Ed Harris is aware of generally the big picture and he talks to them in character saying like, you know, you've actually seen more of the train than anyone else, you've seen more of the train than I have, right? So in some ways you have like the biggest picture now, and this is the thing, is he's been given, he grew up at the back of the car, at the back of the train, and he decided to end it. He said, this is crazy that we've just perpetuated the same kind of sick cycle of everyone just being so stuck in this myopic, you know, situation that they're just kind of born into. And he's like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna end, I'm just gonna stop, stop the train entirely, right? Now, you could maybe, you know, the great thing about that movie is Ed Harris is acting like just a pretty decent, he's like, why don't we hang out for a bit? I get lonely up here, you know, you think you trade places with me? Yeah, honestly, like, hey, at least, because the main character, he had community and he had family at the back of the train, you know, people looked up to him, they made him a, he didn't want it, but he became the leader of them, you know, so he had purpose and he had community and he had friendships, right? And Harris is just alone on the front of the train. So in Ed Harris's mind, that's where he feels like, sure, I'm advantaged in some ways, I get steak, but I'm also alone here all the time. And also making decisions, huge decisions because this movie is just fantastic, really, because in every single part of this train, everybody thinks they're making the right decision for humanity, not just for themselves. People here are in leadership positions, believe, right? All of the leaders believe that we are making the right decisions for humanity. We are acting selflessly, right? Because this guy here with his steak, he wants to hang out with the folks, right? And he thinks, okay, well, at the back of the train, everybody loves each other, there's family, and they spend time together. And I'm here on my own trying to figure out how to keep humanity a stressful job. Is Ed Harris also in his own kind of, you know, narrow-minded worldview where he's just thinks, oh, well, this is the only way to do things. And really, again, I'm acting selflessly to maybe avoid all the, because he knows about more of how the train operates than most people to avoid just living in crushing guilt and other depression and other things that could come with knowing the things that he causes. Like, all right, time to start another revolt and knowing how many people get killed because of a call that you make. Is that also in a way him just being very narrow-minded and believing that that is his purpose and it's righteous to do that? Because that allows him to actually keep doing it blindly without maybe questioning, maybe this is really messed up, right? And now you come from the back of the train and all you can think about is survival. All you can think about is one day we're going to break out of this. Not really knowing kind of why your position is the way it is to begin with. Yeah. I mean, there's so many things in this movie, honestly, not understanding your position, right? Leadership is like that. A lot of leaders truly, they have this notion of what it means to be a leader and what it is, what it means to serve people justly and what it means to do things, to act for the greater good. I mean, who is to say that any kind of way of doing things is correct at the end of the day. But you do see a lot of that. You tend to see a lot of these structures being put into place in the world that we live in with the notion that, okay, well, this is going to work, right? The leaders in the train are thinking, we need to keep this train going so that we keep the humanity going, right? But in the end, what is that really a good thing anyway to keep humanity going, especially to keep humanity going in that way? Yeah. I don't believe anyone should have the feeling that they can play God because, again, we're all, even if you are Chris Evans and you made it from the back of the train to the front of the train, you've seen everything, is that still even enough knowledge of kind of the structure of human society to know that enough to feel like you can play God? I don't know. I really don't know. I don't think so. The train, balance, right? And you need janitors, you need people who pick up electricians, farmers. Yeah. You need these people that the world kind of looks down on, which is awful, right? But you need these. And then that's where, for example, immigrants, right? You have a lot of governments where Western societies, the more that they develop, the less people are inclined from these societies to work these more labor-intensive jobs. That's when you have to open up the doors to people from countries where things are really super rough because you know these people will take absolutely anything. But that is an example of this thing that you do need people in these kinds of positions. And sometimes you force people into those positions and if you can, you find people who are desperate enough to get themselves into those positions. And that's the way of the world. The train is exactly like that. These are the things that came up for us when it came to the train. One thing as well that I remember we talked about is the lavish, the people that were living lavishly in this train who had absolutely no knowledge of what was going on in the back of the train or interest. Let's say, for example, if you knew that you could help someone in a disadvantaged community in your own country because it's not even just countries like in the developing world that are struggling. There are people in your own country if you're coming from the west that are struggling a lot. And if you knew that you could help this, just even one person from your country who was at a complete disadvantage, if you stopped Netflix and you decided you're never going to watch Netflix ever again and you decided that I'm going to get rid of my iPhone, would you stop watching Netflix? These are your comforts. You have gotten used to these things. And also, how are you going to order an Uber without a phone? The world that you live in, even if you wanted to fight it, the world you live in forces you to need these contraptions, for example, that might actually save someone else if you weren't using them. For example, I'm going to go deep here, right? Coltan. If you didn't know where this product, and you better not cut this, just so because I think it's important. And I say this not because I'm not even righteous here because I also have a phone, and these are things that I think of every day. Coltan is a big resource that we use for electronic devices. It's almost everything, especially phones, right? And where do you get it? We get it in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And let me tell you, there are kids, there are people dying for your phone. A lot of countries have a stake in the resources there. The people that are actually living in the Kiwis do not actually gain whatsoever from the resources, but we do. Because I get my iPhone, all these contraptions that make my life so much better. And when I'm lost, I get to GPS. Mr. Google helps me find. Dr. Google helps me find where I need to go. And so then I have to grapple with what would I do without these things, right? Have you ever gone just like a day without your phone? Let's say you left your phone behind. How are you getting around? You know what I mean? Things like that. How are you going to be like on your social media? How are you going to know what's going on on Instagram? How are you going to keep up to date? And these aren't, I'm not even saying this because like I'm not, it's not even a ditzy move to say how are you going to keep up to date what's going on on Instagram? Honestly, like the world is just set up that way. You have to just be up to date with these kinds of things that in the past would seem superficial. Even where you might want to make a change, even where you might want to stop watching Netflix or even where you want to get rid of all your technological devices so that you can help people at the back of the train, you're going to struggle. So yeah, because your life dictates that you have these things, even though it means that someone else is suffering for it. People also struggle with, even if you are aware of the damages of technology that we have on the rest of the world, you go from being, wow, instead of buying this device, this contraption, it doesn't even really make me that happy or help my life in some way, certainly that much. But at the same time, you go from being like, you know, if I didn't get the next one, maybe it would help somewhere in the other part of the world. But then you can switch to, to then your, your other side of your brain where you're like, oh, but that new phone does look pretty good. And like, you look at your friends and like, oh, they're all getting new phones. I've had this phone for years, you know? Yeah. And it's hard. We're not here trying to make it seem like, you know, oh my God, if you do that, you're the worst person, you are socialized. We are conditioned. The world is kind of the way it is, because it's the way it is. Yeah. Meaning that. Our condition has been conditioned. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Literally, after watching this movie, we were talking about this same conversation the entire night. Yeah. Honestly. Losing sleep because we watched the movie too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, for me, they're the two things I would say we're creating a revolution, giving something people to, giving people purpose, you know, a little bit of hope to keep them. Yeah, to keep them going. And that happens. There's so many things. But then, and then you just faced with the thing when, when you see these things is what do you even do? Because it's very tough because then you find yourself talking to other people that are kind of born into the same train carriage that you were, because the same reference points, they kind of understand where you got the information from, how you see things, similar points of view, right? So then you're kind of stuck. It's hard to kind of move from different train sections in life. Yeah. For many reasons, I think humans just generally get stressed when they're around people. They're not so comfortable knowing the steps of the proper ways of communicating because everyone has their certain ways, right? Different stage coaches have different ways of even just hanging out and shooting the shoot with people. So it's hard to get past the, just getting to know people then, you know, really engaging with certain things. So yeah. The other thing that I want to talk about that I don't want to forget is, which I think was the biggest metaphor for me in the movie, you know, how the people in the back of the train are fighting to get to the front of the train because they think, okay, we're going to change it. Everybody's going to be equal, you know? And it's not even people in the back of the train, right? It's everybody who is not a leader, but especially people in the back of the train. It's kind of like you, you're existing in this world, but you don't understand the rules of the world. So I think it spoke to, for me, how you'd have people that are less privileged, right? People that are less privileged aren't accommodated in a lot of ways because they don't have access to the same kind of resources that someone in a more privileged position has. They don't understand the world and they don't know how to navigate it as well as you do, which means that there are chances of surviving in the world and actually finding comfort, a nice little, you know, I don't know, yeah, a nice little chunk of life is like really like very minimal, you know? I don't know how to explain this, but it's kind of like people who are privileged know where the knives are. The world is created for them and people in the back of the train, the world isn't really created for them. And so they're moving along, trudging on along, trying to figure out, I want better because it's uncomfortable at the back of the train and you know that it's uncomfortable and you're fighting for your life as people who are struggling in the world right now do, like working hard jobs, where you're getting paid nothing, you're working your butt off because that's the only thing that you've been trained to or like the only skill you've been given because you, you know, you didn't have access to the kind of education or opportunities that might help you get to where you want to do. So you then you just stuck doing this job and working for like 40 hours a day. Okay, I know, you know, and just not getting anywhere. The thing with the train is like, yeah, when they, Chris Evans character, he starts obviously, he's a very, he's obviously primed for leadership. These guys have already picked this guy and seen that this is the one he's going to take over when we die. He's different from everybody. They just don't realize how different he is, right? Even, you know, but everybody else, like even him, when he starts out, he has this idea of the world that he lives in. He thinks it's a certain way. And all you have to do is get to the front of the train, get the guy, kill him, or whatever, you know, he gets to the part of the training that, you know, to the front of the train. And he actually learns that things are completely and utterly different from what he thought and that whatever his vision of what was supposed, what would be better is completely unachievable. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, right? And so that's the thing. We're all living like that. And we don't always have the opportunity, like Chris Evans, to finally realize that the way we're living, it's just an illusion at the end of the day. Or we have no clue what rules we're living in or what world we're living in. We're completely blind to our reality. Yeah. And it's especially the case when you are someone who's struggling and coming from a disadvantaged community and you're seeing people around you, you know, happy, living happily or succeeding or finding ways to get that job. How did they get that job? You know? Which is why I would say safest thing, not even safest, the truest thing to do in life is to realize that everyone only has had so much experience. You know, you're lucky if you've come from one train car and managed to actually experience a couple of the train cars, give yourself a little bit of perspective. But everyone's coming from their main train car. And so everyone's going to have blinders on to certain things, meaning that some people will just be ignorant to certain other people's, how certain jobs work or how certain other people live or other certain mindsets that people get from certain things. So that's why, you know, your perspective is only ever going to be so grand and so long with including so many train cars of people. So that's why I feel like you can increase your happiness a little bit or contentment with people. Like it or not, there's billions of people, people are going to be interacting with you throughout life. So just realizing that everyone's kind of got a bit of the blinders on and forgiving yourself and others for just that fact. Yeah. Wake up in the middle and say, oh, I should have said that. Damn. Yeah. Everything about it was fantastic, very happy to have seen that. Yeah. It's funny because at first. We did enjoy it. We come from a certain train car where we find putting on posh British accents is hilarious. And it is. I'm not sure which train car that is, but it's a good train car. Yeah, it's a good train car. With that, we are signing off. Right. Wait, what do we usually say? You can say signing off or signing off. That's a wrap. You can say that. No, of course, say that. I was just saying that before you said that's a wrap. Okay, we'll give that, say both of them. So we're signing off. And that's what, what do you guys think of Snowpiercer? Did you pick up on some of those things? Maybe have other things that you noticed in the movie. Yeah, please. There's a lot of stuff in there. Come on. Let us know. Comments. I just want to discuss. Even if you just type in first. Yeah, I'd actually like to discuss. I like, we like discussing movie this way. And we only have each other, which is great. Very grateful to have that, to be honest. But we're interested to know, like are there other people like us who discuss movies like this? In the cyberspace, I'm sure. There are more of us than you realize. So we'll be signing off. Till next time. That's a wrap.