Oliver Hirschbiegel
The Invasion

There are several evenings when the desire to go out for a stroll is absent, so one settles on the sofa, turns on the TV, and watches it. Being someone who has come to hate today's TV due to the poor quality of the programs offered and their stupidity, often exhibited with pride, I decided to put on one of the many DVDs I hadn't yet watched. The choice fell on the poster of The Invasion, perhaps drawn in by Kidman's face, or maybe the title, which was quite unfamiliar to me.

The play button begins a story based on Jack Finney's novel "The Body Snatchers," which has already been the subject of various other films. The Invasion, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (already the filmmaker of the successful "Downfall," a biographical film about Adolf Hitler), features Nicole Kidman in the role of a psychiatrist and Daniel Craig in the role of a doctor. These two characters will find themselves having to confront a virus brought by the crash of the Space Shuttle, which brought an "extraterrestrial" organism to Earth. The effect of this virus is entirely different from what we have seen in other science fiction films: the infected person remains the same in body and appearance but lives in a state of apparent relaxation. The individual lives without emotions...

The Invasion is one of those feature films that theoretically has well-notched arrows in its quiver: the disappointment lies in the fact that these arrows do not reach their target. If, indeed, the film can have different interpretations like the realization of the unsatisfactory life that is increasingly prevalent in modern society, or it can be seen as the achievement of science that brings to life what man wants to discover but not to his detriment, the "weapons" with which all this is shown to us are jammed weapons.

From the beginning, we have a family with separated husband and wife and a child in the middle. Starting from this base that appears stereotypical, the film proceeds with choosing to place the two protagonists (particularly Kidman) as the heroes who must save everyone. However, it is unclear how an ordinary psychiatrist manages to face all the infected just to save her child, just as predictable and stereotyped (again) is the ending, which is written even before seeing it.

All elements contribute to casting shadows on a film that thematically appears interesting but is largely "killed" by the inevitable action choice in films of this genre.

Next time, it will be difficult to pass up a nice outing with friends...