This film left Hanover yesterday and with a last-minute meeting cancellation, I was able to see it on its final night. I had a vague recollection that it had been part of the Telluride Series done at Dartmouth in September, and it turns out that it was indeed part of that festival. Alas, I missed them all in September, so I’m glad I caught this one.
I thought it was some kind of science fiction film, and I suppose in some sense it could be taken as that. An alternative reality Britain, stuck in some kind of dingy 1980’s Thatcherian England, where the National Donor Programme is the norm. Clones are made from people in order to provide organ transplants. After they have “donated” 2, 3 or sometimes 4 organs, they die, or as they say in the film, they “complete”. It is a government organization, with specials schools and forms, and electronic bracelets to monitor movements.
The first section takes place in a grim kind of boarding school, and we are introduced to the three protagonists: Kathy, Ruth and Tommy.
The whole film has a dark, grim tone that matches the story. It is utterly credible. And the ethical question: what if we did have clones to provide organs? Is it better that they should die so we could live, or that we should die of the disease?