Planet of the Apes - 1968
Planet of the Apes is about a futuristic planet which is earth-like in all aspects except the fact that humans are enslaved by apes. The film uses the depiction of ape society to attack notions of human superiority. It’s based on a novel by the same name written by Pierre Boulle (author of The Bridge on the River Kwai). It stars one of my all time favourite actors Charlton Heston as Taylor and is directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.
The movie starts with Taylor and company in hibernation (they are astronauts) and their spaceship travelling through space and time. It develops some problems and crash lands in a lake on an unknown planet in 3978 A.D. One of the astronauts dies, and the others escape to the shore. The land is a desert, and the astronauts come to a human-inhabited oasis while wandering through the desert.Here’s where they find that apes have taken over the planet and hunt humans for sport. One of the astronauts is killed by the apes and Taylor is shot in the throat, an injury that prevents him from talking. They are all captured and taken back to the city of the apes, where it emerges that the apes can talk and are divided into 3 categories - police/military, administrative/politicians and intellectuals/workers. Humans cannot talk.
What follows is Taylor’s attempt to escape from captivity, helped by two scientist apes who realise that he can actually talk, and the political leader Dr. Zaius, who wants to put him on trial. But finally Zaius decides that it’s best for everyone if Taylor just disappeared, and so lends him a horse to escape.
The scene towards the end of this movie, is probably one of the most acclaimed scenes in cinema history. I won’t tell you what it is, but the scene turns the viewer’s whole concept of the film completely on its head (it is only retrospectively that the many clues throughout the film as to how it shall end, become apparent). Suddenly Dr Zaius’ motives for keeping the population ignorant of his knowledge and findings turn out to be benign and not malignant. Taylor is shown overwhelmed, his human arrogance and self-assurance shattered. I am getting goose bumps just thinking about the scene.
Get a DVD and watch this movie, and you’ll figure out why I am in love with the scene, the movie and science fiction movies in general. They compel me to think…!!
Beware: There was a sad remake of the movie in 2001. I hated it.
