THX 1138
Year:
1971
Directed by:
George Lucas
Rated:
R
Country:
United States
Runtime:
1 hr. 28 min.
Production Company:
American Zoetrope
Written by:
George Lucas
Walter Murch
Starring:
Robert Duvall
Donald Pleasance
Maggie McOmie
Don Pedro Colley
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George Lucas's film debut does not disappoint.
THX 1138 is an impressive first directorial effort by George Lucas, famed creator of the Star Wars saga. It is also, in almost every way, an opposite type of science fiction from that series for which the filmmaker is so famous. Whereas Star Wars is a fun, expansive, adventure-oriented take on the classic good-versus-evil story, THX is a pessimistic, confined, and artsy Orwellian sci-fi, much in the vein of movies like Logan's Run (though much better). It is a warning about where technology could take us. For this type of movie, THX is about as well done as any. Its solemn tone is its only potential drawback, but in this type of movie, that's unavoidable.
The hero of THX is a man actually named "THX 1138" (pronounced "Thex"). Apparently everyone, at least everyone in this society, is given a three-letter, four-number name based solely on alphanumeric qualities, like a license plate. THX works in a semi-robotic factory, building fully robotic chrome police officers. These are the keepers of order on the ground, commanded by human dispatchers who, fairly detached from the world, look on through security cameras and provide peacekeeping orders via radio. THX and his "mate," LUH 3417 (sexual interaction, however, is outlawed in this society), have quit the drugs that everyone is legally obligated to take. This rebellious act is eventually discovered by the nameless overlooking authority, and the two decide to try to escape the only world they know.
Overall, the thing Lucas does best in THX is create a world that feels intolerably empty, much like its inhabitants' lives. There is rarely a sense that anything exists outside of this world (though most viewers will themselves consider the possibility), and it is even difficult to gain any idea as to the general location of this enclosed society-facility. This sense of confinement is accomplished by the claustrophobic settings and the fact that nothing outside of the immediate society is ever referred to. There are no outer windows in this facility, and the only "outside" the characters have is an eternally dark area between facilities, where there is nothing but streets for dangerously fast cars. The inhabitants of this place are so brainwashed that they never even consider the question of what is out there, and, in fact, they do little talking about anything at all. It would be like us trying to figure out what comes after Heaven; to them, this is the whole world. LUH speaks at one point of a transport to some other society, which they may take after their labor-obligations for this society have been fulfilled, but by the point of the film when she brings it up, the possibility is so unbelievable that it comes across as a wives' tale. No one even seems to know who is in charge of their world. All they know is to do what they are told or else they are put to rehabilitation, detention, or death.
The society is kept under strict order by a Big Brother-esque system of surveillance and chrome robot officers. The omnipresent surveillance tries to come across as a friend, but we always know it cares only about its own ends. Whenever someone opens a medicine cabinet (all medicine cabinets are stocked with the same medicines), for instance, a suspiciously friendly voice automatically asks "What's wrong?" It then instructs the person which color pills to take and how many. "Help is on the way" it ominously says to one person after instructing him to take a certain pill combination. The robot law enforcement is equally ominous. They do everything they are ordered, unless they malfunction, and their still, metal faces are fittingly emotionless. Watching them, I am reminded of the utopian society described by the alien Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, in which invulnerable, unfailing robots perfectly keep order according to the laws programmed into them. This way, corruption is impossible. Klaatu makes it sound like a paradise of peace. After watching THX, however, the idea sounds like a nightmare. Imagine being always at the mercy of unfeeling robots whose sole purpose it is to uphold the law. I'd rather take my chances with corruption.
