In 2019 Netflix had, among the films in its catalog with the most views, Code 8, a humble dystopian film, set in the future, about people with special powers, an alternate version of what we know like superhero movies.
Code 8 is not the first movie with a different approach to the people with special powers that usually star in the world of superheroes, but it is one with a slightly different premise that adds new meanings to the theme of the superhumans.
The film is of Canadian origin and stars Stephen Amell, who played Green Arrow in the television series Arrow, and his cousin, and his brother Robbie Amell, who plays the role of the protagonist of the story. It is a low-budget film, very well used by the way, and financed through crowdfunding, that is, basically from donations. Its total budget was just under $2.5 million.
Code 8 takes place in a different reality than ours. A reality in which the existence of people with special powers was in the public domain for a long time, and they were integrated into society as one more person without much problem. Moreover, being only 4% of the population, they enjoyed a certain general recognition, but they did not wear costumes, neither to be superheroes nor to be supervillains, they were ordinary people with the particularity of possessing a special ability.
These abilities were classified and categorized according to their characteristics and their strength and intensity, and the people who possessed them were assigned jobs or social roles that could take advantage of those abilities for the common good as well as the fulfillment of the individual.
However things changed over time, and people with skills became obsolete, and were relegated from their assigned roles, becoming a minority, with all the discrimination and limitations that this entails. And this is the novelty in handling similar stories that the film develops.
The villain in this story is technology, which allowed humanity to do what people with special abilities did in a more efficient way. Over time, people with special powers became marginal individuals, controlled by a system that labels and limits them, and that is when conflicts break out.
The film is not about the ambition of the individual, but about his need for freedom and equity, as a trigger for friction between humans and "superhumans". Individuals with powers are discriminated against since they manifest themselves, and their lives are marked by the control of the government that treats them as second-class citizens.
This is the framework in which the film takes place, a very particular framework in which powers are more of a curse than a blessing, and where, contrary to what we see in superhero movies, it is something that nobody wants and are even afraid to get
In this dystopian world, many of the individuals with special powers are forced to misuse them in order to survive, and try to alleviate the social differences that do not allow them to have a decent life with the social recognition they deserve as people, regardless of their unique abilities.
The protagonist is one of these individuals, an electric level 5, who in order to be able to support his family makes questionable decisions whose development allows us to see the familiar nuances for all of us in other types of cinemas about minorities and their problems.
And suddenly, along with films about racism, discrimination, illegal immigrants, and social injustice in general, we have one in which superhumans are the victims of all the worst of human beings living in society.
A society where being different is bad and a threat, unless we can take advantage of it for the collective benefit. A world where being different is synonymous with something wrong with you, and therefore you deserve to be mistreated. A world that, deep down, is too similar to ours, one that is not a dystopia, but perhaps it should be.
I avoid giving more details to avoid spoilers, and allow you to enjoy the movie better, but I leave you the trailer. Thanks for reading, and until next time.
©bonzopoe, 2022.
Thank you very much for reading this post and dedicating a moment of your time. Until next time and remember to leave a comment.
