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I do not watch movies anymore. I haven't watched but a handful in 5 years. Yesterday my wife was watching one called Cloud Atlas. Something in it grabbed my interest, An irresistible pull. I watched for 2 and a half hrs and At the end I cried, tears of joy and resonance. I could not believe that I had found a movie that encompases all of the great truths of incarnations, love, soul groups, soulmates, self slavery, and finally releasing all that is negative. It was so symbolistic of my new life I have been able to find. My new way of thought, and it being played all out in such a great picture in front of me. I am no movie critic, nor do I promote them, but today I will tell you, if u love this small portion of trailer, please watch this soul felt movie that I have been able to resonate with so greatly. WARNING... As you can see from Wade and Jai, this movie is VERY deep n complex, and will completely seem random in all ways until the last 30 min when it ties it all together so please, hang in there. My wife still don't understand it.

Love n light,

rob

alt text

Here is synopsis - Possible spoiler alerts for those who must "see all things" with no preconceived notions.

This film follows the stories of six people's "souls" across time, and the stories are interleaved as they advance, showing how they all interact. It is about how the peoples' lives are connected with and influence each other.

The first storyline follows a lawyer named Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess) in the early1800's, whose family is in the slave trade. He has been sent to the Pacific to arrange a contract for some Maori slaves with a slave trader from that area. Upon his return home, Ewing saves a Moriori (native New Zealand) man named Autua (David Gyasi) who is a runaway slave stowing away on the ship. Ewing also realizes he is being poisoned by a doctor he trusted Dr. Henry Goose (Tom Hanks). Autua saves Ewing's life and his views of the natives are changed in important ways as he comes to know the man. Adam Ewing's journal which chronicled his ordeal and rescue by a runaway slave are later published into a book which is discovered by the next character in the storyline.

The second storyline follows the tragically short life of a talented young wannabe composer in the 1930's named Robert Frobisher (Ben Whishaw) who finagles himself into a position aiding an aging composer Vyvyan Ayrs (Jim Broadbent). While working for Ayrs, Robert Frobisher begins reading the published chronicle of Adam Ewings' journal which he has found among the many books at Ayrs' mansion. He never finishes reading the journal and it is unclear what effect it has on the creation of his own musical composition. Robert enters a sexual relationship with Ayrs's wife, which, along with Ayrs' own arrogance and presumption of superiority of position and class, tears him and Ayrs apart. Ayrs threatens to ruin Frobisher's already rickety reputation when he encounters Frobisher's own work, the Cloud Atlas sextet. Ayrs forces Frobisher to accept second place in the credit for the Sextet. Frobisher inadvertently shoots Ayrs during an argument then flees. When Ayrs survives the shooting, and sets police after him, he realizes he is facing utter ruin, as Ayrs threatened. Frobisher completes the Sextet, then sends it to his lover and friend, a Cambridge student, Rufus Sixmith (James D'Arcy) and commits suicide. Rufus Sixmith meets the main character in the third storyline much later in his life, and we discover Robert Fobisher's Cloud Atlas sextet has been recorded into an album and although it is an obscure recording, it has clearly affected peoples lives.

The third storyline is about a journalist in the 1970s named Luisa Rey (Halle Berry). She meets Rufus Sixmith in a chance encounter while being stuck on a broken elevator. Sixmith, by now is now a renowned physicist. After leaving the elevator, Sixmith later attempts to re-contact Rey and reveal that there is a conspiracy afoot to cover up a report about the flaws in the design of a nuclear power reactor. When she is about to meet-up with Sixmith, she finds him just recently dead, an apparent suicide. Her journalistic instincts kick in, telling her there is more to the story than a man committing suicide, and discovers that a report on the reactor written by Sixmith can reveal the terrible secret. Along with the report, Rey also finds a collection of letters written from Frobisher to Sixmith many years earlier while Frobisher was working on the Cloud Atlas Sextet composition. A scientist named Isaac Sachs (Tom Hanks) meets Rey and helps her. The CEO, Alberto Grimaldi (Hugh Grant) sends his head of security, Joe Napier (Keith David) and his agent, Bill Smoke (Hugo Weaving) to stop her. Smoke has already killed Sixmith, and then Sachs, and attempts to kill Rey as she gets closer and closer to the truth. Smoke is stopped in the end by Joe Napier. As Napier and Rey escape death by the hands of Smoke, Luisa Rey publishes an article leading to the shutdown of the reactor after revealing the contents of the Sixmith Report.

The fourth storyline is a modern-day tale of Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent), the owner of a small publishing company, who has published a small biographical book by a lowlife thug. While the book has literally no hope of making much, if any, money, this changes when the author-thug kills a critic of his book by throwing him off a balcony to his death. Suddenly the book has legs and Cavendish is rolling in money from royalties. When friends of the thug come looking for his royalties, Cavendish is put in a tight situation, as he doesn't have the money they are demanding, and clearly the hooligans aren't particularly constrained by the law. While traveling by train to his hide-out address his brother recommended, Cavendish is seen reading a manuscript that was sent to him. The manuscript is titled, "Half Lives - The First Luisa Rey Mystery" and is the romanized version of the third storyline. He arrives at the "hotel" his brother sent him to, which, only the next day is revealed to be a nursing home for the elderly. Residents are treated as prisoners, and each attempt to get out is stopped by the staff (which is revealed to be the nursing home's primary purpose, to lock up troublesome relatives). With the assistance of three other residents, they eventually create an escape plan and they manage to escape. Once he makes good on his escape, he writes a best-selling tale of his adventures, which is later made into a biopic.

The fifth storyline is about Sonmi-451 (Donna Bae), a clone bred for work in a Papa's Song fast-food restaurant in Korea (now called Neo Seoul) in the far future. In this stark future, she lives in a day-to-day world, each day identical to the next, existing only to serve food to "consumers". But her limited life is revealed to be less than she is capable of when another of the clones inadvertently awakens her from her daily slumber. Sonmi-451 through chance, discovers a fragment of the biopic film of "The Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish" on a cell-phone/pda left at the Papa's Song fast-food restaurant. This film lays the seeds of the never-ending struggle against injustice. She starts to question all the things she has seen and experienced, including the believed purpose of her existence, in which other clones, and eventually she, will "ascend" from after a single year of work. When her friend, the other clone, is killed, she meets a man named Hae-Joo Im, who it is revealed was behind her friend, and then her, being exposed to something more than their day-to-day existence. They have been attempting to prove that the clones were the equal of "naturally born" humans, hearkening back to the days of slavery. Hae-Joo rescues her from her life in the restaurant, and begins teaching her about the outside world as well as teaching her about philosophy, art, and "higher values". When they are captured by the authorities, he escapes, then rescues her from the authorities. He reveals he is actually a former member of the military who has become a member of a revolutionary organization, taking action against the oppressive government, that wishes to free the clones in Neo Seoul. Somni-451 is proof that the clones are capable of being more than mere slaves. He takes Sonmi-451 to meet the other revolutionaries, who arrange for her to learn what "ascension" really is, on a ship where they massacre the clones, only to reprocess them and use their bodies to feed the still-functioning clones. She agrees to assist the revolutionaries, knowing it means capture and death, by writing a Manifesto. They capture a broadcast facility, and reveal the truth, not just to all earth but to the offworld colonies as well. All of the revolutionaries, including Hae-Joo, but except Sonmi-451, are killed holding off the government's agents so that she can keep broadcasting her Manifesto. Sonmi-451 reveals all the above while being questioned by an agent of the government, who asks her why she did it all, when the government will make everyone believe it was false. She acknowledges that she goes to her execution calmly, believing that death is only a door, and knowing that one person -- her interviewer -- knows it is true, and that it will not be possible to suppress the Truth.

The sixth and final storyline is about Zachry (Tom Hanks) who is a tribesman living in a low-tech post-apocalyptic Hawaii, 100 years Neo Seoul has been swallowed by the sea. His people revere Sonmi, and believe her to be holy. A member of a far more advanced group of people called the Prescients, named Meronym (Halle Berry) asks to live with their tribe and Zachry's sister takes her in, their relationship grows. Zachry is harboring his own secret, that he hid in cowardly shame while barbarians called the Kona killed his brother-in-law and his nephew. People suspect him, and he is largely an outcast, but his sister and his niece still accept and love him. Meronym wishes to cross the mountains to get to a place she believes is inland, but it is an area fraught with suspicious dread, and no one will take her there. When Zachry's beloved niece is taken fatally ill, and he realizes only Meronym has the ability to save her, he agrees to lead her up the mountains to where she wants to go in exchange for Meronym's assistance. Zachry's fears, personified by his tribe's belief in a god of Death named Old Georgie, whisper to him that he must kill Meronym, that he is risking his tribe for an outsider. He rejects the impulses, seeing in Meronym something more and better than his fears can destroy. Meronym and Zachry succeed in reaching a large facility, and he is again pushed by Old Georgie to kill Meronym, and he again resists, but barely. Meronym reveals to Zachry that the world is dying, that all humans, even the Prescients, are doomed, unless they can reach the offworld colonies, if they still exist at all (most of the Prescients believe them to be dead, and Meronym on a likely fool's errand). Meronym reveals that the place they are at is the same broadcast facility that Sonmi used to transmit her manifesto. She explains to him that his beliefs are not entirely true, that Sonmi was a human, not a goddess, and shows him pictures and things that prove it. They return to the valley of Zachry's clan, to see smoke in the distance. Zachry realizes his tribe is under attack by the barbarian Kona, and runs ahead to assist. When he arrives, everyone in his tribe is dead, all the Kona appear to be gone. He sees his sister's dead body, then runs to their hut to find his niece. There he finds one lone barbarian lying in a drunken stupor, and he kills him in rage. He hears a noise, and finds his niece hiding in a small niche. At the same time, the barbarians return looking for their klansman, and, seeing his horse outside the hut, begin to investigate. They see him lying there, throat freshly cut, and begin to search the hut for whoever killed him. Zachry and his niece flee, with the Kona in hot pursuit. The Kona catch up to them in the same woods where he hid in cowardice as his brother-in-law was killed, and, as he is about to die, in much the same place and position as his brother died (the story thus coming full circle), Meronym steps up from the place he hid in cowardice, and, using her weapons and risking her own life, she saves him and they kill the half-dozen Kona together. Meronym signals for her own people, and they accept Zachry and his niece in as one of their own, with Meronym's urging.

Finally, it's shown that Zachry has been telling his tale to a large group of children, and that he married Meronym, and that the offworld colonies heard their broadcast, and came to rescue the survivors... and that he and Meronym are on another world entirely. trailer one - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWnAqFyaQ5s

trailer two - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFAPeaJOf8


UPDATE 6/25/2015


After this long i JUST found a movie that could compare. "I, Origins"

This link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBFAf1-KGdY

asked 21 May '13, 15:42

TReb%20Bor%20yit-NE's gravatar image

TReb Bor yit-NE
14.0k21578

edited 25 Jun '15, 12:27

It looks confusing, but will check it out when I have time.

(21 May '13, 15:55) iqjim
1

I've seen it 4 times. Each time I saw it, I saw something I haven't seen in it before. I also have the book, although I haven't finished reading it...maybe one day.

(21 May '13, 16:47) CalonLan

Thanks for mentioning this movie; it sounds like one I would like. I have rented it from iTunes!

(21 May '13, 20:19) LeeAnn 1
1

@TReb Bor yit-NE - Thanks for the recommendation, Rob! The trailer looks phenomenal. I'll definitely check it out.

(21 May '13, 20:42) lozenge123

@leeann and lozenge123, Well wade n Jai having a rough time following it,. as did my wife,

(21 May '13, 20:52) TReb Bor yit-NE
2

Yes, it's actually a nice movie, though a little bit lengthy to my taste.

(21 May '13, 21:27) releaser99
2

Thank you Rob, this looks awesome. :) I put it in my Netflix cue, it's due to be available in June.

(22 May '13, 13:58) Grace
2

I saw this a few days ago, Oh my god was it great.

(13 Jun '13, 10:56) ikaruss21
showing 1 of 8 show 7 more comments

Inward Quest Movie Review: Cloud Atlas

[Cloud Atlas is playing. Jai and Wade are watching. Ten minutes into the movie, Jai pauses the movie. A movie buff, this is the first time she has encountered this type of hop-through-time-with-the-same-characters movie. Jai pauses the movie.]

"Wade, did you get that?"

"No. Did you?"

"No. But maybe after ten more minutes, we will."

"Okay. Start 'er up again."

[Ten more minutes go by. Wade pauses the movie.]

"Jai, do you get it now?"

"Got me. I'm totally lost...This seems like ADHD Theater."

"Huh."

"Another ten minutes?"

"Okay."

[This goes on for about an hour. We see Wade and Jai trying to stay awake, their eyes glazed. Who knows who turned off the movie...Jai fell asleep. As she drifts off, she thinks, "Finally! A true cure for insomnia."]

Movie rating: ?? out of ?????

Call us thick. But thanks... Maybe with a print-out of your synopsis, we'll do better next time...

Tongue in cheek,

Jai

link

answered 21 May '13, 19:40

Jaianniah's gravatar image

Jaianniah
37.8k13105607

HAAAAAAA, my wife, same way, i am balling at 2 hrs 10 min, she said " I dont get it" LOLOLOL,, it takes a while, i watched it 4 times n it gets more n more sensible everytime i see it. hang in there

(21 May '13, 20:50) TReb Bor yit-NE

In fact it is like that for about 2 hrs then it really comes together, I promise u, hang in there, it'll be worth the wait.

(21 May '13, 20:53) TReb Bor yit-NE

Watched it last night really liked it may see it again.
A quote from the film

Our lives are not our own.
From womb to tomb, we're bound to others.
Past and present.
And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.

It had that hop around different stories story line. Similar to Pulp Fiction . An other film that has similar story line about interconnectedness is "The Hours" Great acting and great score!
peace

link

answered 22 May '13, 06:14

ursixx's gravatar image

ursixx
22.0k1445

edited 22 May '13, 06:15

1

@ursixx- i loved thse lines..,deep meaning :))

(22 May '13, 06:37) supergirl

@ursixx. great expert. love u brother

(22 May '13, 07:36) TReb Bor yit-NE

Wow! Rob you were able to actually follow that movie!

Jai & I watched it, it was interesting but neither of us knew what was going on. We just couldn't figure it out, I can say it was similar to a short story I wrote years ago. But this movie was way more complex. Because of this complexity it seems very fragmented to try to make sense out of.

link

answered 21 May '13, 19:18

Wade%20Casaldi's gravatar image

Wade Casaldi
36.9k428102

1

HAAAA. just read ur wifes comment to,. LOL. it is funny,. but ill reiterate what i said to her too lol. " HAAAAAAA, my wife, same way, i am balling at 2 hrs 10 min, she said " I dont get it" LOLOLOL,, it takes a while, i watched it 4 times n it gets more n more sensible everytime i see it. hang in there"

(21 May '13, 20:51) TReb Bor yit-NE

I wrote a short story of two people many lifetimes but all happening simultaneously. I need to find that story. I don't remember what I called it.

(22 May '13, 14:18) Wade Casaldi

ZI would LOVE to see it if u find it brother,.if u r willing to share.

(23 May '13, 09:35) TReb Bor yit-NE
showing 2 of 3 show 1 more comments

Thank you @TReb Bor yit-NE for recommending this movie!

Awesome movie! Watched it twice on two succeeding nights. This is unusual for us, but there is so much going on. Tightly written, directed and photographed, fantastic interwoven storyline.

Fascinating and highly recommended. You want an action movie? A surreal fantasy sci-fi? A little love? A little sex? Common threads of lives and interactions through time and space? Fantastic special effects?

You got it in "Cloud Atlas."

We are buying the DVD for our small permanent collection. We like it that much!

“Power, time, gravity, love. The forces that really kick ass are all invisible.”

and

“If we believe that humanity may transcend tooth and claw, if we believe divers races & creeds can share this world as peaceably as the orphans share their candlenut tree, if we believe leaders must be just, violence muzzled, power accountable & the riches of the Earth & its Oceans shared equitably, such a world will come to pass.”

link

answered 27 Jun '13, 02:38

Dollar%20Bill's gravatar image

Dollar Bill
12.0k29113

I know, what an extraordinary thing, isn't it? I am so grateful u had use with the movie, i loved it.

(27 Jun '13, 14:03) TReb Bor yit-NE
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