9 encounters artificial intelligence in "9."
(Shane Acker, 2009)
September 12, 2009
by Joel Crary
It’s been a month of soul-searching at the cinema. Coming off “Cold Souls,” here is another picture that postulates the removal of the soul from the human body for storage, though in “9″ the sterile canisters take the form of rag dolls and the procedure suits a much grander purpose. “9″ takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where human beings have been killed off by the very machines they manufactured to help them do battle. The only remnant of our existence has issues with keeping its arms attached.
Some animators sure have dark imaginations, and thank goodness for that. One such animator is Shane Acker, whose “9″ is a full-length expansion of the world he created in his Academy Award nominated short film of the same name in 2005. The film is co-produced by Tim Burton, a collaboration that immediately makes sense given “9″‘s mutual fascination with apocalyptic themes and kid’s toys. A quick read of Acker’s bio mentions his influences as the Quay brothers and Czech surrealist director Jan Švankmajer, whose adaptation of “Alice and Wonderland” must be seen to be believed.
Based on my viewing of “9,” I’ll throw some others influences on the table: Jim Henson and the Wachowskis. In fact, “9″ could play as a lost segment of “The Animatrix,” preoccupied as it is with the destruction of mankind at the hands of artificial intelligence – even the big baddie of a robot slightly resembles the sentinels that sliced through the Nebuchadnezzar. Scenes in which a machine sucks the life essence out of the rag dolls reminded me of “The Dark Crystal,” all to say that Acker takes his place in a tradition of exploring the dark rooms of a child’s mind in his animation.
A lot of kids will want to see the film, and it might scare them witless. In case the soul-sucking detail didn’t bring its tone home, I’ll put it like this: It’s like “WALL-E.” except all of the humans are dead, and WALL-E killed them. As the film opens, an inventor (Alan Openheimer, the go-to guy for “In a world” trailer narration) is finishing up work on a doll with electronic parts and describing how the world’s been flushed down the toilet by blind trust in technological advancement. When the doll awakens, his master is lying dead on the floor, but he discovers that eight other dolls like him have taken refuge in a nearby church.
All of the dolls, identified by the numbers on their backs, represent unique facets of the inventor’s soul, which is what the machines lack to cause anything but destruction. 1 (Christopher Plummer) takes on the role of a pious leader trying to keep the dolls safe. 2 (Martin Landau) appears to carry the greater part of the inventor’s mind. 3 and 4 are mute chroniclers of the events that have transpired, armed with the ability to project film reels and catalogue information. 5 (John C. Reilly) serves as the one-eyed lookout. 6 (Crispin Glover) is an idiot savant who seems crazy but has the key to stopping the machines. 7 (Jennifer Connelly) is a fearless warrior who can take down a machine with one slice of a rusted kitchen knife. 8 (Fred Tatasciore) is the brainless mass of muscle, and 9 (Elijah Wood) seems to unite the best qualities of all in sober thought and courage.
The movie is comprised of terrific action scenes in which the dolls come out of hiding to do battle with the machines and figure out how to help their friends who have fallen into harm’s way. 9 is directly responsible for a lot of the chaos that occurs, and Acker and screenwriter Pamela Pettler give him great depth in his fastidious determination to carry out his responsibilities while shouldering his guilt. The environment has a great dark look of greys and browns punctured occasionally by bursts of bright green light.
The film seems to be hinting that technology is becoming a kind of drug to humanity that will eventually rage out of control. I found myself confused by its insinuations about the nation responsible for the machine takeover (it appears to be Russia, comrade) and the religious overtones, but these were too slight to really complain about. By the end of the film I was hoping that I’ll get another look at the world Acker has created. It’s a dark one, but the world can be a dark place.
