Would You Kill Yourself to Save the Earth? Caitlin Cronenberg Turns the Climate Crisis Into a Bloody Family Drama in ‘Humane’
26.04.2024 - 20:19
/ variety.com
William Earl administrator Caitlin Cronenberg‘s directorial debut “Humane,” which opens in select theaters Friday, tackles a decidedly heavy topic: the climate crisis. Yet the film always has an ironic levity to it, something she assigns to human nature. “In a crisis, someone is always making a joke,” Cronenberg says.
“Someone is always being light and funny and trying to get the mood to match the way that they feel, just because that’s their response to fear.” That fear bubbles and builds in the pressure cooker of “Humane,” which boasts a deliciously pulpy setup. In the near future, a climate disaster will force 20% of people to enroll in the government’s new euthanasia program to sustain resources. But when a wealthy patriarch (Peter Gallagher) gathers his children (including Jay Baruchel and Emily Hampshire) at his mansion to tell them he’s signed up for it with his wife, she disappears and the government comes knocking, still demanding two bodies.
Cronenberg, working from a script by Michael Sparaga, says it was compelling to play with a dynamic where the people usually least impacted by the world around them are suddenly directly affected. “This family believes that, even with the legitimate crisis in the world of ‘Humane,’ that it doesn’t apply to them,” she says. “I think that’s universal in the places that I have experience with.
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