Six keys to "Cloud Atlas" | Far Flungers

But, the love of "Cloud Atlas" is not merely something rational, antiseptic and platonic. Rather, it is compulsive. Again, it is a love that someone cannot, not have. In Rumi's language, it is fire that ignites life. It is not mere wind; it is fire. And, anyone who does not have this fire, need not be alive. In the film, anyone who does not have this fire, has probably surrendered his/her humanity to the above-mentioned cages, waiting to be devoured by the conspiratorial system. That love is something that reaches into the most intimate places of your being, and cannot exist without connecting with someone else. That love becomes something produced by the two of you, yet not belonging to either of you. It is a greater work of art than even a masterpiece composition.

So, the film is ultimately asking if you have ever experienced that true boundless love. I do not think that I knew love until the births of my daughters. Until they arrived, I was essentially an ascetic of sorts, detached from the world. And, they arrived and became my world. And, through them, I was exposed to love in all directions. I think every parent understands this. And, when I follow the story of the two Wachowskis, I find myself thinking that I am witnessing a special, true love between two siblings. In another time and place, a related pair would have split. I wonder, though, how many of us find that fire of love in another person, where physical union becomes a taste in that transcendence.

And, what do we make of that corporate presence in the background. At first, we watch slavemasters profiting off of humans. Then, in the next thread, we observe members of that high society, discarding their sense of dignity. Then, in the next thread, we observe a business that is capitalizing off of nuclear disaster, followed by a culture, again of high society discarding the dignity of its elders. Then, in the final two threads, we witness the final conquest of the corporate monopoly, eventually vanquished by the cult of a martyr. And, society starts all over again, ignited into place by her love for humanity, and, the last couple's love for each other.

Now, critics of this film will consider it to be rather pretentious. Such would also be the complaint against the Wachowski's Matrix trilogy. But, in those films and in this film, I remained absorbed and entertained. And, in this film, I was touched down to the depths of my being. I found myself wondering wondering wondering, if that true love really does exist between two lovers, with such depth as the burning intensity of my love for my daughters.