So this week’s entertainment has included seeing both of these films at the cinema. There are probably not two more contrasting films on at the minute!

Jupiter Ascending

On the surface level, this is a love story, where good conquers evil, with a bit of sibling rivalry thrown in. A key theme in this is greed. It is pretty much the story of three siblings fighting over (not very ethical) stuff. Without saying too much, in the end it does none of them any good. A more interesting idea is that, over time, the exact combination of someone’s genes is repeated, and this is a “reincarnation”. Of course, the person looks the same, but is not the same person (as seen in the film when one of the brothers equates the “reincarnated” woman with his mother, who had the same genes). It is an interesting possibility, though what are the odds of it happening? Not the sort of odds you’d gamble on. Also interesting is that they have exceptionally long lives – in the thousands of years – achieved by the highly questionable means of “harvesting” some unknown lifeforce from humans. Though if the characters in the films are anything to go by, they don’t seem to enjoy their long lives, they turn bitter and fight. All in all, not a bad film for the sake of entertainment.

Selma

And from the world of fantasy, to the true story of Martin Luther King fighting against racism in the 60s. Though I can’t quite believe that this happened only 50 years ago. It is difficult to believe that it is less than 50 years since MLK was killed fighting for equality in USA. This film is a good representation of slow process of change. It would be good for teaching about prejudice and discrimination – especially since we are still living in a world of racist attacks and oppression. The better film of the two.