Total Recall 2012: A Message?

[Carpathian]

Hey all,

I just finished watching Total Recall (the 2012 version) and it struck me as very interesting. I thought it had some messages within it that were kinda surprising for a Hollywood movie. I had read that most (if not all) of Hollywood was really corrupt, so why would a movie such as this (mindless blockbuster) have such a message?

Here's what I noticed (taken with a grain of salt) :) (SPOILERS!)

The story begins in a future where the entire world had been poisoned by chemical warfare (?) except for the United Federation of Britain (!) and the Colony (Australia). These two remaining clean areas are connected by something called "The Fall" which is basically a giant subway system through the center of the earth.

Britain is the "nice" area ruled by the elite/rich and the Colony is where the "undesirables" i.e. poor, uneducated, homeless, etc. live. "The Fall" was the idea of Britain, and is used as a form of economic slavery for the Colony, as nobody can get a job, or earn a living, etc. without Britain's help, and the Colony is basically used as slave labor for the rich living in Britain (banks?).

The hero (Colin Farrell) plays an agent who infiltrates the "resistance" (a group of people from the Colony who hate "The Fall" and want to get rid of it, basically freeing the Colony from economic slavery). Since this is Total Recall, the hero's memory is fuzzy but he's basically a good guy who wants to try and prevent a war by the baddies (the head baddie is the President of Britain - surprise!) who has an army of robots at his command and wants to destroy the Colony because there's not enough clean land in Britain anymore and he wants the rest for himself and all the other rich folks (kicking out all of the "undesirables").

Hmmmm, that's an...interesting plot.

How about this quote between the hero (Doug Quaid) with the faulty memory, and the leader of the resistance (Matthias):

Matthias: Mr. Quaid, What is it you want?
Doug Quaid: I want to help you.
Matthias: That is not the only reason you are here.
Doug Quaid: I want to remember.
Matthias: Why?
Doug Quaid: So I can be myself, be who I was.
Matthias: It is each man's quest to find out who he truly is, but the answer to that lies in the present, not in the past. As it is for all of us.
Doug Quaid: But the past tells us who we've become.
Matthias: The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present. Look there. You'll find your answer.

I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into it. :) Feel free to comment if you feel differently. It just hit me as having some intriguing messages buried in what was supposed to be a mindless summer blockbuster.

Thanks!

Carp

[shadowstalker]

Hollywood has many things in mind, as it is part of the Military/Industrial Complex

1...Make money
2...Confuse us
3...Instill fear.
4...Enlightenment (NWO plans)(Fear)(Spiritual Decline)
As they have to tell us there plan(as is the rule, other wise it's not a fair game, is it?)
5...Enlightenment (Spiritually)(Growth)(Notice this ones is at the bottom of the list)

Matthias: Mr. Quaid, What is it you want?
Doug Quaid: I want to help you.
Matthias: That is not the only reason you are here.
Doug Quaid: I want to remember.
Matthias: Why?
Doug Quaid: So I can be myself, be who I was.
Matthias: It is each man's quest to find out who he truly is, but the answer to that lies in the present, not in the past. As it is for all of us.
Doug Quaid: But the past tells us who we've become.
Matthias: The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present. Look there. You'll find your answer.

I fully understand the spiritual message here, does anyone else???

All Hollywood movies have a message
All things written or played out. have a message in it.
It doesn't matter if its big production or Indy or Low budget, there is always a message.

If It is a book by a big author or unknown, there is always a message in it.
And so on and so on and so on...

[dim]

But that's how deception works, isn't gona lie to you directly cause intuition will alarm you right away
is gona tell you a thousand truths to catch your heart first and then funnel you in the subtle lie they want you to adopt.

What happens to the hero who finds himself in to the present moment ?
haven't see the movie but let me guess, finds the perfect love in the form of a beautiful girl and together make kids in a 2 bathrooms 3 bedrooms house with lawn.

Branded blamed Lenin in the end, did anyone catch that ?

[Mulder]

I agree and I was interested by the army of Robots and the Robots that Police the humans - which is a certainity to happen. I disagree that Britain will survive, I've read that it will not as its in the Northern Hemisphere so it will be covered in Nuclear-fallout by the winds.

[Lifebringer]

Ergo, the "intent." Yes, they don't want US to love each other, but isn't this great big wonderful world of culture all about loving our HUEMAN neighbors to allow US to meet others after learning here at home to play well. So far the elites have NOT played well or fair, and God is gonna deal with them post haste.
WE will not have to go into the dark bag of falling veils, to deal with them, but the hosts of the Creator by His will, will.

Let us plan our future with faith in humanity to stop playing their games.

[Carpathian]

Hollywood has many things in mind, as it is part of the Military/Industrial Complex

1...Make money
2...Confuse us
3...Instill fear.
4...Enlightenment (NWO plans)(Fear)(Spiritual Decline)
As they have to tell us there plan(as is the rule, other wise it's not a fair game, is it?)
5...Enlightenment (Spiritually)(Growth)(Notice this ones is at the bottom of the list)

Matthias: Mr. Quaid, What is it you want?
Doug Quaid: I want to help you.
Matthias: That is not the only reason you are here.
Doug Quaid: I want to remember.
Matthias: Why?
Doug Quaid: So I can be myself, be who I was.
Matthias: It is each man's quest to find out who he truly is, but the answer to that lies in the present, not in the past. As it is for all of us.
Doug Quaid: But the past tells us who we've become.
Matthias: The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present. Look there. You'll find your answer.

I fully understand the spiritual message here, does anyone else???

All Hollywood movies have a message
All things written or played out. have a message in it.
It doesn't matter if its big production or Indy or Low budget, there is always a message.

If It is a book by a big author or unknown, there is always a message in it.
And so on and so on and so on...

Shadowstalker,

Thank you for your reply! My impression was that this movie was #5 - Enlightenment, but maybe I am mistaken? It does seem weird that it would try to enlighten us, because my understanding was that they were trying to keep us in the dark. I would be curious to see what your interpretation of the quote would be? I know the quote talks about Quaid's memory problems (at this point in the movie he has the partial memories of more than one of "him") but, to me, it possibly reflects what could happen in reincarnation? Meditation is used to quiet the mind and "live in the now" - maybe they are saying that that is the only REAL way to live, and not live in the past of "mistakes," and that *love* is really the only thing you need to focus on - everything else (including memory) is a trap.

I don't know, what do you think?


What happens to the hero who finds himself in to the present moment ?
haven't see the movie but let me guess, finds the perfect love in the form of a beautiful girl and together make kids in a 2 bathrooms 3 bedrooms house with lawn.

Haha! Of COURSE that's what happens! This is still a Hollywood movie, after all! :)

Thanks,

Carp

[shadowstalker]

@ Carpathian
Without memory, be it long term or short term, one cannot make proper free will choices. I.E. cause and effect in ones personal/spiritual life.

Memories, be they past/present in this life time or past life, is what help make personal experience.

They can either keep us locked into a certain experience or help break us free.

For some, this includes past life memories,
They some times come in dreams or waking vision as one goes through a present situation, be it a relationship or other events, to help us through or to help us prevent making the same mistake again. But because most ppl are not taught of these things we tend to mistake them as JUST DREAMS or HALLUCINATION, and miss all that wonderful informative information sent to us by us to help us through the event.

In the Case of Quaid where his memories where false, how could he be truly himself?, while living someone else's lie. Can you? Can anyone?
How can one be true to who they are when ones past has been altered, I understand the dire need to reach that kind of truth as my own memories had been taken from me when I was 8 yrs old, through a very specific event, 3 days and possibly more..Mind you I never knew this till I was 38 yrs old, well what do you know I could have been a totally different person. But that's the whole point isn't it... Finding out who one truly is and what they can truly be...To challenge the limitations

For some, memory can be a trap, as it for some can limit ones personal choices for there future.
For some the memories can help one learn and then move on to much more positive things and personal growth.
It all depends on the individual experiencing the experience, remember that, it's is all subjective to the individual.

[Carpathian]

@ Carpathian
Without memory, be it long term or short term, one cannot make proper free will choices. I.E. cause and effect in ones personal/spiritual life.

Memories, be they past/present in this life time or past life, is what help make personal experience.

They can either keep us locked into a certain experience or help break us free.

For some, this includes past life memories,
They some times come in dreams or waking vision as one goes through a present situation, be it a relationship or other events, to help us through or to help us prevent making the same mistake again. But because most ppl are not taught of these things we tend to mistake them as JUST DREAMS or HALLUCINATION, and miss all that wonderful informative information sent to us by us to help us through the event.

In the Case of Quaid where his memories where false, how could he be truly himself?, while living someone else's lie. Can you? Can anyone?
How can one be true to who they are when ones past has been altered, I understand the dire need to reach that kind of truth as my own memories had been taken from me when I was 8 yrs old, through a very specific event, 3 days and possibly more..Mind you I never knew this till I was 38 yrs old, well what do you know I could have been a totally different person. But that's the whole point isn't it... Finding out who one truly is and what they can truly be...To challenge the limitations

For some, memory can be a trap, as it for some can limit ones personal choices for there future.
For some the memories can help one learn and then move on to much more positive things and personal growth.
It all depends on the individual experiencing the experience, remember that, it's is all subjective to the individual.

Shadowstalker,

Thank you for your response, it gave me a lot to think about!

Like you said, this topic is VERY subjective, so please just take the rest of this post as me dropping my .02 cents in on the topic (for what it's worth).

I also had an experience when I was young where I lost memory and only regained partial recollection at a much later date. I too also wonder who I would've been a) if the event never happened or happened differently b) if I had retained memory of the event at the time c) if I had regained my memory fully, or in a different way than what happened.

You're right, memory is what makes us - but I also think that memory can lie to us and become a trap. Not because something is remembered incorrectly (although that can happen), but because memory can become so huge, such a motivating force in your life, that it might blind you to who you ESSENTIALLY are.

What I mean by "essentially" is that I believe people will react/act/emote basically the same to similar circumstances even through reincarnation. Their "soul" is always the same. So no matter what happens to you in any life you live, you will always be who you REALLY are (kind, generous, greedy, flirty, etc.).

So (for example) if I had a crappy parent tell me I was a horrible person the entire time I was growing up - even though I knew this not to be true - I would grow up convinced I was a bad person. But ESSENTIALLY I knew I was a good person (I was empathetic, I tried to help other people, I was generous, etc.) which one should I believe? The memories of my parent, or what I know about myself?

The quote:

Matthias: It is each man's quest to find out who he truly is, but the answer to that lies in the present, not in the past. As it is for all of us.
Doug Quaid: But the past tells us who we've become.
Matthias: The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present. Look there. You'll find your answer.

I think Matthias was saying that you may base your "current self" off of the memories of who you were in the past, but the memories of "who you were" might be wrong because they are of a person WHO NO LONGER EXISTS. You are NOT your past, you are who you are RIGHT NOW (again, referencing the "essential" you).

For Mr. Quaid in the movie, his "past" person wasn't a very nice person at all and was working for the wrong side of the conflict. His "current" person was a good guy trying to fight the good fight. If he only went by what his "past" told him, he'd have hated himself and given up or killed himself or worse. But he saw the good in himself RIGHT AT THAT MOMENT ("essentially" a nice guy), and decided to keep on fighting.

I think he was describing a way of viewing the world that grants you a new start at any/every moment of your life - a chance to "start fresh" without all of the baggage of your past (if you so choose to look at it that way). Of course, there is no obligation to throw everything aside (and I don't think that's what they were describing anyways :)) but just a way to drop the "bad aspects" of memory while still preserving the cherished ones.

Does that make sense? I hope so! :) I guess I just really like the idea of being able to start fresh at any point...it's a very cool idea.

Thank you again!

Carp

[shadowstalker]

LOL as far as I am concerned we are both saying the same thing but with different word, so in essence we are both correct in this interpretation..
No doubt there will be more interpretations to come, just said within a different light.
You are awesome..

[Carpathian]

Shadowstalker,

Sorry for the delayed response - it's been busy around here! Yes I think we were saying the same thing, different words :) Ha! Thanks again for your response, it was fun chatting with you!

Take care,

Carp