“Visioneers” (2008) is a little satire by Jared and Brandon
Drake, available on Amazon instant and Snag.
The premise of the film seems to derive from concerns over
the loss of “social capital” expressed by Rick Santorum, Charles Murray, and
O.S. Guiness. Society has carried
hyperindividualism to the point that people are so into their own little worlds
that they explode, literally. The
blowups come as a result of dreams that seem to become an alternate
reality. (Can people share dreams?) Actually, people can have cardiac arrests in
intense dreams. No, the film doesn’t show bodies exploding (like “Alien” did),
and I think it would have helped the humor if it had.
There’s a big company, the Jeffers Corporation, that the
government has contracted to draw people back into “working together” and
conformity. I think you could say that
Facebook has actually created a mentality of social compliance.
George Washington Wimsterhammerman (Zack Galifianakis) is said by the doctors to
be a passive, subordinate man, the doctors aren’t too concerned when he starts
having symptoms of a possible blowup. But they want him to start taking the
tests and doing the exercises. At his
palatial home, George tries to repair his marriage with Michelle (Judy
Greer).
The technical quality of the 95-minute film seemed
substandard; the definition wasn’t quite standard and the sound was
muffled. But the Amazon rental ($2.99)
is legal.
The official site is here.
D.W. Moffett is chilling enough as Mr. Jeffers, the mogul
who is willing to exploit the “moral weakness” of everyone else to become the
next Hitler.
The film was shot around the Seattle area and in the Cascade
foothills. But the indoor scenes at the corporation
are indeed monotone. These are people,
after all, who, like the patients at my 1962 NIH stay, want to be “dulled”.
Zach’s dream is interesting enough, to time travel back to
the time of George Washington.
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