Thursday, October 16, 2014

A Reflection on “Never Let Me Go”

For those who haven’t watched the movie here is a quick overview.

Never Let Me Go movie poster

The film tells the story of three clones, Kathy H, Ruth C and Tommy D. During their childhood the clones reside in a type of boarding school that is specifically dedicated for children like them. The school is called Hailsham. There they spend majority of their childhood till they are teenagers. While they are at Hailsham the clones are constantly monitored with tracking devices and are regularly checked upon by a doctor to make sure they are in perfect health. Once the three main characters are teenagers they are moved a community of cottages. Here they are offered a bit more freedom. This is where they await their fate. These clones are destined to become organ donors until they die. All three characters struggle with the idea of who they were cloned from and try to find a way to prolong their fate as much as possible. Sadly it does not work. Ruth C is the first one to pass then followed by Tommy D. The only one left in the end is Kathy H who is informed that it is her turn to donate.

Let me first start by saying that although I consider this film to be good it still took a toll on me. Let us just say I was not a very happy person when I finished watching it. If anything I felt furious! Yeah I know, it is just a movie and things like that are not likely to happen. Well we don’t know that for sure now do we? Anyways getting back to the film. Like I was saying I thought this film was pretty good and I felt like it conveyed quite a lot in terms of our human nature, pressure by society and technological advancements that we even face now.

A question that is presented in the film is that if we were able to have a cure for cancer and for any disease that existed would we choose to retract from that just to save a few clones? Most people would say that if it is for the better good than why change things. You know the saying kill a few and save more. Well essentially that is what happening in this film. Then the moral dilemma rises. Is it right to treat these clones who are humans and have feelings of their own as cattle? I personally would not be okay with this. Someone can then ask me what if it was a relative of mine that was dying and that harvesting a clone’s organs was the only way to save them. I would say no. There is a natural order to things and I believe that we should never trade one life for another. It just isn’t right.

Then there is the whole issue that these clones are humans and that they too have feelings of their own and want lives of their own. Towards the end Kathy and Tommy try to find a way to prolong their donations but fail. Their natural instincts and human nature was to find a way to be with each other as long as they were able to. We humans always try to find purpose in life or at least try to cling to something that makes us feel happy. These clones aren’t any different.


Think about it this way… would you be willing to kill essentially what is a human being to save another? 

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