Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Caitlin Cronenberg
Written by Michael Sparaga
When the world begins to fall apart, civilizations do some pretty crazy shit. Caitlin Cronenberg’s first feature film, Humane, explores the possibilities in this dark satire. The Canadian government offers compensation for voluntary euthanasia. A prominent and wealthy family patriarch intends to make a grand political, patriotic gesture, but it goes horribly, bloodily wrong.
Humane explores the ethics of the apocalypse. When the ozone layer wastes away to nothingness, and people require umbrellas to avoid solar radiation, food runs short when crops fail. The solution? Euthanasia. To reduce the population to feed a famished country, the Canadian Government offers up a large sum of money to people “patriotic” enough to volunteer for death.
A wealthy family patriarch decides to volunteer as a grand gesture, but his family is aghast at his decision. I usually do not like a cast full of unlikeable characters, as it violates my rule #1. Do I care about the protagonists? In this dark satire, however, it is essential (and fun!)
The Cast of Humane:
- Peter Gallagher plays Charles York, a respected national anchorman who has decided to volunteer for the Department of Citizen Strategy (D.O.C.S.) program.
- Jay Baruchel plays Jared York, a conservative anthropologist with political connections. He is the oldest son of Charles York.
- Emily Hampshire plays Rachel York, a cynical pharmaceutical CEO with many skeletons in her closet.
- Sebastian Chacon plays Noah York, the adopted youngest son of Charles. Noah is a talented pianist haunted by an old addiction and failed suicide attempt.
- Alanna Bale plays Ashley York, a struggling actress who hasn’t managed to get more than advertising jobs.
- Enrico Colantoni plays Bob, the D.O.C.S. field agent who has arrived to administer the euthanasia procedure as humanely as possible.
- Uni Park plays celebrity chef Dawn Kim, who is married to Charles York. She isn’t as committed to euthanasia as Charles, but she did sign up for it.
- Sirena Gulamgaus plays Mia York, Rachel’s daughter, who shows up at the York estate despite Charle’s desire for her not to witness his death.
A Short Synopsis of Humane
The Earth’s environment has gotten so bad that a decision has been made by the Canadian government, which has determined that a population reduction of 20% is needed to stabilize society. To achieve this, they are offering a reward to anyone who volunteers for euthanasia. As a result, most of the volunteers come from the desperate underclasses to give their families a fighting chance.
Charles York wants to change that equation. As a famous and respected news anchor, he knows his actions would alter the narrative. He summons all of his children to announce that he and Dawn have decided to become the patriotic face of the new government policy despite not needing the government stipend. His children are aghast at the decision, but the call has been placed, and D.O.C.S. is coming.
Charles is ready when Bob, an otherwise cheerful and charming man, arrives with his crew to perform the… execution/euthanasia. Unfortunately, Dawn slipped out through the back door during the family argument. The contract requires TWO corpses per house-call, and since Dawn is missing, one of the children needs to take her place.
Bob quarantines them until they can pick Dawn’s replacement. Naturally, all the buried sibling rivalries and jealousies come out, and the family turns on itself. This is a despicable lot. An uncaring and crass politician. A deadbeat addict. A failed ingenue. And a greedy, failed pharma CEO. They turn on each other with great venom and inventive savagery.
One way or another, there will be two bodies leaving the house.
Evaluation of Humane:
Dark political satires can be tricky. Rumors also emerged this year and exemplified how NOT to execute this subgenre. This movie makes its point with just the right amount of science fiction background and peppered in some snarky wit to drive it home. You find yourself rooting against everyone. Normally, this is a bad thing, but Humane made it wicked fun.
The success of the story is influenced heavily by two veteran actors in supporting roles. Peter Gallagher (The O.C., Law and Order) is pitch-perfect as the family patriarch. His old-fashioned sense of honor is misguided and tone-deaf, but he holds to his principles. It also helps that the government has some dirty laundry on him when he gets cold feet. Enrico Colatoni (Galaxy Quest, Just Shoot Me!) is nominally the villain, but he is the most endearing character in the story. Sure, his job is grim. But he does it with verve and positivity.
Cronenberg has been mentored by her father, always on his productions as a still photographer. She has stepped into her feature debut with confidence and focus. She doesn’t show her father’s penchant for body horror, but she isn’t shy about the bloodshed. There are some logistical plot gaps, and the characters are caricatures, but the story never lags. The fun begins when the family decides to go full-on fratricidal, with pauses for changing allegiances and plenty of back-stabbing. (Literally)
Conclusion:
The movie successfully lands its jabs. Humane explores the unfair standards of legacy wealth and privilege. It brings up the uncomfortable and time-honored science fiction trope of environmental holocaust and the threat of overpopulation. It doesn’t really land a haymaker, though. All of its frantic energy leads to a decision on points rather than by knockout.
Full credit to Caitlin Cronenberg for getting a wry and often manic fun movie under her belt. I enjoy the generational torch passing currently happening in the Horror Genre. The Perkins family, the Shyamalan family, and the Cronenbergs (three of em!) all extending their legacies through the next generation.
Humane is rated R for extensive violence, some gore, and plenty of cussing. IFC produced this picture, and it is widely available on most streaming platforms. It is free if you have Shudder or Amazon Prime.