Cube


Reviewed By: Sean Patrick Dolan

Year:  1997
Director:  Vincenzo Natali
Cast:  Nicole De Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlet, Andrew Miller,
          Maurice Dean Wint, Wayne Robson, Julian Richings

A group of totally unrelated people wake up inside a cube-like structure.  They have been stripped of their jewelry and possessions and dressed in prison style uniforms.  None of them remember how they got here.  Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint) was a cop on the outside; Holloway (Nicky Guadagni) a doctor; Leaven (Nicole De Boer) a normal teenage girl; Worth (David Hewlet) an office worker, and Rennes (Wayne Robson) a prison escape artist, and Kazan (Andrew Miller) an uncertain variable- all we know  about him is that he is severely mentally handicapped.  The rooms are alternate shades of red, orange, green, and blue and each room has six pressure locked doorways; one on each wall and one on the ceiling and floor.  Some of the rooms are harmless, others are equipped with deadly high-tech booby traps- slicing screens of razor sharp wire, flame-throwers, vents that spit acid. 

The prisoners work together to try to navigate their way though the deadly maze, while at the same time trying to figure out the nature of their predicament- why are they here, who built this structure, and what  exactly is its purpose.  Holloway is convinced that they are victims of a government conspiracy, because only the "industrial military complex" could have funded such an expensive and diabolical project.  Quentin thinks they are being held for the purpose of "some rich psycho's entertainment".  Worth is sullen and unresponsive, and Rennes advises them to quit looking for "the big picture" and just concentrate on the problem in front of them- survival and escape.  Ironically, he is the first to die, as his system of throwing a boot into the next room to detect motion sensor activated traps proves inadequate- the traps are far more sophisticated than they thought.  Leaven turns out to be a math prodigy, and discovers that the numbers engraved in each doorway reveal whether a room is trapped or safe, through a complex relationship of prime numbers. 

Things go well for a while, until this system too breaks down.  Quentin is nearly killed in a room that should have been safe. It is at this point that the individuals' personalities lead to conflict, and their failure to cooperate with each other further imperil their lives.  Quentin suspects that Worth knows more than he is telling about the cube, and that he may actually be a spy for the unidentified enemy.  They argue and Worth reveals that he worked on the construction of the cube's outer shell- he knows its dimensions and nothing else.  He doesn't know who built the thing, or even who hired him- he never left his office, only talked on the phone with other specialists.  He wasn't curious at all about the project, he was just happy to get a large paycheck.  With this new information, Leaven realizes that the numbers represent coordinates on a Cortesian plane, and that to escape they must determine where the edge of the cube is, as that is where the only bridge to a door will be located.  They reach a room where the only way to advance towards the bridge is to cross a room trapped with a noise sensor.  They all cross successfully, until Quentin is nearly killed when Kazan (the mentally handicapped) cannot remain silent. He wants to abandon this member who he feels threatens the survival of the group, but Holloway will not hear of it. 



This leads to a major conflict between Quentin and Holloway, and an argument in which all their differences and animosities are revealed- Holloway a "bleeding heart liberal" and Quentin "a Nazi", a repressive authority figure bent on control.  The conflict becomes violent and shatters any unity remaining in the group.  Despite this, they reach the edge of the cube- and are confronted with a gaping abyss and no way to cross it to freedom.  They make a rope of their clothing and Holloway volunteers to swing across the chasm to see if there is a door on the other side.  She dies in the attempt- Quentin could have saved her, but unbeknownst to the rest of the group, he lets her fall.  Lack of food and rest is taking its toll on all of them, Quentin in particular.  He is becoming paranoid and delusional, and thinks that the others are spies.  He allows the group to sleep for an hour, and attempts to go on ahead with Leaven, leaving Worth and Kazan behind.  Fortunately, they catch up in time to stop Quentin from sexually assaulting Leaven, but a fight ensues and Worth is brutally beaten.  Quentin uses him a their boot- he throws him into each succeeding room ahead of the group.  To their horror, they find themselves back in the room where Rennes died- have they been going around in circles?  No, they haven't- the rooms themselves are moving, and those were the strange thunder-like rumblings they have been hearing.  Each room at some point is adjacent to the bridge to freedom.  Leaven redoes her math and calculates the movements and the quickest way to the bridge.  They have no way to determine if a room is safe or trapped, until they discover that Kazan is an idiot savant- the numbers do reveal the safety of each room, but the complexity of the number of factors to each large number and their exponential relationship to it are beyond my ability to comprehend, and Leaven's to calculate.  Suffice it to say, Kazan is able to do it, and they arrive at last in a room adjacent to the bridge on the edge of the cell, but only after Worth manages to trap Quentin, now completely insane and psychotic, in a room several steps back.  All they have to do now is cross the last threshold, but they have to wait for one last shift to bring the room to the proper level.  They cannot escape before Quentin catches up, and in a blind rage, he murders Leaven and severely injures Worth.  Though injured, Worth valiantly prevents Quentin from crossing the boundary before the room shifts again.  Kazan is the only one to cross the bridge, into an eerie white light and an outcome we are left to speculate on. 

This Canadian film, by director Vincenzo Natali, appears deceptively simple on the surface, but is one of the most complex movies I have seen in years.  It is a shame it seems to have slipped in under the radar in the US, but I hope to remedy that with this review.  This isn't a movie about five people trying to escape from the most brutal puzzle box this side of Hellraiser, but a film about humanity in general, as well as yet another frightening look at the modern world.  These people cannot get along with each other to save their lives, and under the extreme stress they are enduring, short tempers are understandable.  Quentin and Holloway represent the vast ideological divide that explains how a presidential election can be won by a mere several thousand vote in a nation of more than 250 million citizens (yes, I know this is a Canadian film, and that it came out several years before that event, but I think my point is still valid).  Holloways distrust of government and authority in general and her "liberal" ideology, contrasted by Quentin's "we're just doing our job" conservatism are more relevant to situations today than when this film was made a short five years ago. 

The high points of this film, to me, were this argument and Worth's speech he delivers after he reveals his involvement in the cube.  At first he seems to confirm Holloway's suspicions and fears. That there was a vast conspiracy behind this structure and their imprisonment.  But what he reveals next makes this movie, to me, one of the most frightening films I have ever seen.  He describes how he only worked on the outer shell of the cube, and how he neither knew, nor cared, to learn any of the details of what he was designing- he only cared about the paycheck.  He states that he was one of a number of specialists involved on the project, and that "the left hand never knew what the right hand was doing, and the brain remained hidden the whole time".  He believes that if there was ever a plan or a purpose to the project, it was lost, when people were "bought out or fired".  The project still rolled along, "an accident, a forgotten, perpetual public works project".  Bureaucracy, like Frankenstein's monster or Kubrick's artificial intelligence, HAL, took on a life of its own and escaped its would be masters.  Maybe this can explain how thousands of accountants and attorneys sat idly by while vast corporations inflated their worth on paper and destroyed the careers and retirement plans of their employees.  Also chilling was his answer to why people were placed in the cube- "Because it's here.  If you don't use it, you admit that it is useless."  Chemical and biological weapons are useless too, until you test their effectiveness.

Besides the vast social and political implications of the film, it was also an excellent case study of the reactions of the human psyche placed in situations of extreme duress.  How many of us would disagree with Quentin's decision that the survival of the group justifies the sacrifice of the weakest member who threatens the security (in this case Kazan, who no one knew would be instrumental in their bid for freedom)?  It is easy to take a humanistic and compassionate view when you are safe and well fed in your home, but when your survival is at stake, I do believe the law of the jungle would take over.  Quentin cracks under the pressure, but Worth and Leaven rise to the occasion- despite this, they cannot overcome the brute force and violence of the larger man.  The ending of this film poses more questions than answers- what is the strange white light they see.  Why is Kazan only allowed to escape- Leaven was equally without sin or vice.  The final shot of Kazan melting into the light produces a shadowed silhouette that resembles an alien life form- was this a bizarre experiment to judge the nature, virtue and vices of mankind?  This is without a doubt a provocative film, and the minimalism of the setting and the soundtrack (only present at moments of extreme tension near the end) emphasize that this film should be viewed for substance over style.  The gore is minimal, the terror is not visceral but psychological. 

Two closing comments- 1) advanced mathematics play a large role in this film and I think this may be the only legitimate answer to algebra and calculus students who ask "When will we ever use this?" 2)  Before Worth sacrifices his life to prevent Quentin from escaping, he tells Leaven that "There is nothing out there for me".  "What's out there?" She responds.  He answers, "Boundless human stupidity".  To quiet all the ethnic, religious, and political conflicts in the world would be more complicated and difficult than escaping the Cube- may be impossible.  That is something I thought about while witnessing just five individuals failing to cooperate.
I reviewed the 1997 Trimark Videos VHS release.  I give this film the highest rating, 5.0 Bitch Slaps.

5 Bitch Slaps

 

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