'Carre Blanc' Evokes Feelings of 'THX-1138' and '1984'

Films that portray a bleak dystopian view of the world of the future aren't hard to come by. I very rarely see a film that portrays our future as a society in a pleasant light. It's not hard to see why when you watch the news and think about what is happening around us. I'm not getting on a soapbox or anything, just making an observation and being realistic. Apparently, from the looks of "Carre blanc," the French don't seem to have any high hopes for humanity either.

"Carre blanc" shows a bleak future where civilization is on the decline and attempts of suicide are so regular that nets have been placed around the edges of the high-rises everyone lives in. The weak are rumored to be killed and used for meat. When a boy fails in his attempt to kill himself, he is put into rehabilitation in a strict state-run school. We catch up with him years later as a productive member of society that puts the employees of a nameless corporation through a series of different humiliating tests.

All I can say upon viewing clips of this film is wow. "Carre blanc" is so bleak and depressing. It really does a great job of making you feel like the joy of the whole world has been sucked out everyone's lives in this movie.

It also isn't one of those overly designed and busy movies. It's a minimalists approach to a science fiction-based future. Instead of there being cars flying all over giant cities with lit up buildings, "Carre blanc" is made to feel desolate and barren. Instead of the usual overpopulation we get in these dystopian films, this one shows a world where people have stopped having children and the population is on the decline.

A few movies come to mind when looking at "Carre blanc." The sterile controlled look of George Lucas's "THX-1138" comes to mind. The feeling of government restriction and observation from "1984" is present. Of course, the plot device of people being used as meat reminds me of "Soylent Green." Something about the emotionless atmosphere of the film reminds me of "Fahrenheit 451."

Jean-Baptiste Leonetti wrote and directed "Carre Blanc." The film is about to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival and Sitges International Film Festival. The movie will be coming out in theaters in France on September 7, 2011. We should get it here in the U.S. sometime soon after that.

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