The first official trailer for Elysium, the latest socially conscious film from the creator of District 9, soft pedals its class warfare themes. It’s action over message making, at least in the two-minute peek at a film hitting theaters in August.
You have to visit the film’s official web site to get a grip on the filmmakers’ animus toward the rich and those who believe in border enforcement.
Matt Damon stars in a futuristic tale where the rich have abandoned Earth and established a new, Utopian existence in outer space.
No poverty. No war. No sickness.
That leaves the so-called 99 percent back on a planet that looks like a post apocalyptic nightmare. Damon’s character straps on technology that may allow him to penetrate the defenses of the rich’s spacely Nirvana, setting up a true Occupy style march toward egalitarianism.
At least as told to us by millionaires who live in houses most movie goers could never afford.
The trailer features plenty of action and more proof that director Neill Blomkamp has a gritty, unique feel for the sci-fi genre with only two films under his belt. If you visit the movie’s official web site, cleverly dubbed itsbetterupthere.com, you’ll find more evidence of the story’s true intentions. A page for the Civil Cooperation Bureau features stats on the defense force Bots that keep the peace, allegedly, on this futuristic earth.
We also see a stoic Jodie Foster, who appears to be the film’s heavy as Secretary Delacourt, a “hawk” on illegal immigration, featured with the caption, “Aiding Illegals is a Crime.”
Scroll further down and there’s a section where people can apply for Elysium citizenship, a note featured in both Spanish and English. Click on the page and you’ll be forced to Facebook “like” the site before learning your wait time will be roughly 2,000 hours. Below that is a none too subtle headling saying, “you and your kind are not welcome here.”
The Occupy movement may be on life support, but one percent Hollywood denizens are doing all they can to keep its class warfare message alive.