I was watching one of my curiously favorite movies last night, Strange Days. I had to laugh out loud at its interesting take on “the future”. The film stars Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett, supported by Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore and even Vincent D’Onofrio. It’s set in 1999 on the eve of the new Millennium. A former LA cop, Fiennes, turned drug dealer of sorts uncovers a police conspiracy. I’ll not delve too much into the plot but it shows a 1999 on the brink of total collapse. It was directed by Kathryn Bigelow who won an Oscar for the Hurt Locker.
Anyway, at the beginning of the movie you get the quick summary of how bad things are; wars are raging globally, there’s been a financial meltdown, racial tension has never been higher, everyone is either very poor or very rich and gas is $3.00 a gallon. That’s the thing that got me. Gas is $3.00 a gallon. Even on the verge of total destruction, gas was cheap in comparison to today. I paid $4.12 a gallon on Monday. Which isn’t much in Europe, but here it’s a crime.
I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the “predictions” about what the future would be like. Or at least what 1995 thought 1999/2000 would be like. It was an LA in a constant police state with armed officers basically running all over the city breaking up random street violence every few seconds. I specifically will cite two young women in heels and skirts chasing a Santa down the street and kicking the crap out of him. Not sure why that was part of the “slice of street life” added to the film.
It did remind me of another movie that had a lot of futuristic predictions, Blade Runner. That movie had some amazing visuals and computer uses, but somehow missed the whole cell phone thing. It was a world in chaos but you could still find a payphone pretty easily.
But back to Strange Days, I guess what got me about it is I actually remember being market tested for this movie. In 1995 I was working for the Circuit Courts of Cook County and I was getting some lunch at the Thompson Center. As I was headed to one of the various fast food joints downstairs I was approached by a young woman who had a very early version of a portable DVD player and screen. She asked me if I was a fan of the movies and I said I certainly was and she asked if I’d give my opinion on some movie trailers. I said sure. One of the trailers I was shown was for the movie, Strange Days.
I remember liking the trailer quite a bit. I was also impressed with the portable DVD player. But I thought it was a pretty cool looking movie and seemed to have a pretty good premise. So I said so. I then went and got some lunch and pretty much forgot about it. When it actually came out later that year I didn’t see it in the theater. I didn’t see it until it was on cable years later. By then it was already outdated.
Last night however I was kind of impressed by what the movie did get right; the global conflicts, the growing gap between the rich and poor, the streets themselves bursting with insurrection. It took a little longer than the movie predicted, but it did kind of happen. And is happening. All we need is a Rapper turned prophet and a drug that links you directly to the memories of someone else and Strange Days will seem like prophecy more than just a bad movie.
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