To be recognized as a man was the robot Andrew Martin’s fervent wish all his life, but he, as played mesmerizingly by Robin Williams, only gets his wish after the death he also wanted. Death? For a robot, you say? Why would he even think of death, let alone want it and get it? For that matter, why would a human want to give up immortality and die? My friends, these are only a couple of the most intriguing questions that this movie asks. Charming for the most part, spontaneous, touching and extremely thought-provoking, Bicentennial Man works for all spiritually-minded audiences more than for children, although only rated PG for a little cursing and adult topics.
I’ve often wondered-bravely-what the future will be like. It can be a scary thought, don’t you think? However, an optimistic movie like this one that starts out only four years in the future and shows gradual change, in the world, in robots and in people dying, through almost two hundred years can be a comforting lift to the spirit.
It begins by asking us to wonder how a robot (android) and people can live together and ends by making us see that they not only can live together, but also die with each other as noble examples of fully-lived, enlightened human beings. I first related to the family who buys the robot, dubbed Andrew when the “little miss” mispronounced “android,” but soon I was taken in by Andrew’s story, which is the ultimate purpose of the movie.
I watched as Andrew’s heart and mind, or his spirit, grew with interaction with his family, nurtured by books and classical music. I was awed by his grasp of the artist, pondering his seemingly natural gift of creativity that was first inspired by the need to show love to “little miss.” His story may be a futuristic one that may not happen, but it also echoed every minority’s struggle to be accepted by society and given equal rights as a human being. You cannot dismiss Bicentennial Man as irrelevant and melodramatic.
My Recommendations
This isn’t just a fun movie to watch and forget about. Some people won't even find it terribly funny, but sticky sweet and too ambitious. So you should be prepared to be challenged in how you think of humanity and our destiny. If you believe that we are destined to be immortal human beings, this is not your movie and you’ll be very disappointed in Andrew.
If, though, you can accept that we are immortal spirits with a time to die as humans, for that is part of being human, then Bicentennial Man will be a very moving and thoughtful experience for you. Young children or people not interested in spirituality or the power of love will probably not enjoy the second half after Andrew seeks his freedom and leaves his “parents.” It becomes more serious, more of an inner quest.
That was all right with me. I'm the type who likes spiritual movies, but I realize there's a lot of criticism of it, for the time jumps and the way it's hard to classify. Is it sci-fi, romance, drama, comedy, spiritual? I think, though, if you accept what the movie is trying to do and put yourself in Andrew's place, you won't be so confused. The leaps in time weren't disconcerting to me, but fascinating how Andrew reacted to the changes time brought to humans. He felt even more of an outider with his immortality.
The Message
Poor Andrew would fall in love with women who didn't want to 'invest emotion in a machine.' Try as he could, he just couldn't be a human unless he changed his outer appearance with the help of a robotics researcher/technician. However, you can definitely see his human side coming out even when Andrew was an expressionless robot. Maybe the message there is that love simply takes time and courage to accept it, but I don't know.
In any case, the other actors were just as genuine and loveable; the feminine robot Andrew finds in a San Francisco market was rather annoying to him after the initial attraction, but she provided many laughs and proved that everyone-and every robot with a personality, too-is unique.
The message of this movie seems to be paradoxical. On the one hand, we should try to change, or determine, our destiny and on the other, we should retain our inner selves, our spirits, for they are infinitely precious. How we can do both with dignity is the reason for Bicentennial Man and your renting or buying it today.
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