Left Field Cinema

WARNING: Contains spoilers throughout

Joss Whedon’s short-lived 2002 Science Fiction television series Firefly lasted mere fourteen episodes before it was summarily executed by 20th Centaury Fox for crimes against high ratings. Thanks to positive critical reactions and a wider distribution on DVD, Firefly became a cult-hit with a massive fan base of dedicated viewers who continually lobbied the Fox network to re-commission the show for another season. This never came to pass, instead something more remarkable occurred - Universal Pictures bought the rights and commissioned a feature film entitled Serenity. The film was written and directed by Whedon and theatrically released in cinemas across the world – arguably a riskier venture than simply re-commissioning the show. Not only does the film re-unite the entire cast and adhere to the rules that Firefly originally set (no sound in space for example) but it also picks up the long running story of the series and works towards a conclusion of sorts. Despite all this, Universal fully intended the film to be viewed by both dedicated fans of the show and new viewers who’d never seen an episode of Firefly before. This would be more akin to The X-Files Movie from 1998 rather than Star Trek: The Motion Picture. As with The X-Files, Firefly had built-up an intricate world which could not be dismissed without alienating the die-hard fans, but also could not be entirely embraced without alienating new audience members who would not entirely grasp the fundamentals of Whedon’s universe. The fact that Serenity manages to balance these concerns is arguably its greatest strength and this is no more evident than within its blisteringly complex opening ten minutes…

There is great economy in how Serenity begins; Universal Pictures allowed their opening fanfare to be modified for the purposes of this film, their logo is appropriately planet earth from space, as the title disappears the shot begins to approach the earth which has now a darker tone of brown. Numerous explosions can be seen on the North American continent; from Space this might indicate a significant destructive force, a nuclear explosion perhaps. Several Space ships can be seen approaching us (straight away we can deduce that this is the future, although when exactly is never certain) as the ships leave earth and the narrator begins: “Earth that was could no longer sustain us we were so many.” Instantly we recognise that she is an unreliable narrator, she implies that the ecology of earth was no longer suitable for the human race, but we can see the destructive forces at work in a warring North America. But the narrator continues to explain that mankind found a new solar system with dozens of planets, terraforming began to make these worlds habitable. “The Central planets formed the alliance” she elaborates “ruled by an inter-planetary parliament; the alliance was beacon of civilisation”. We see images of this parliament and of a planet being terraformed, the term parliament implies government and possibly democracy, to which most of the audience would align themselves. But still we are aware that the narrator has not proved herself trust worthy and her gloating over the success of this parliament also proves her lack of objectivity. We now move to one of the “outer planets”, the narrator describes them as “not so enlightened and refused to accept alliance control”. The word “control” in particular implies a more dystopian society; a dictatorship rather than a democracy, her use of the word “savage” is just as damningly subjective as her previous proclamations about the “beacon of civilisation”. She continues to reveal that the central planets were victorious in their war against the outer colonies, and that now “everyone can enjoy the enlightenment of true civilisation”. As she makes this statement phase one of Serenity’s opening is completed (at one minute and eighteen seconds) and it is revealed that we are in fact in a class room of young children who have been watching a video lesson about the history of their culture. The narrator is the teacher who stands at the back of the class room, her one sided a brief view of history has provided us with several key details about the world of Serenity: we know where we are, we know when we are and we know that this society has suffered through war. Turning the narration into a history lesson for young children not only changes the context of everything we’ve just heard, but also gives a legitimate excuse for such blatant exposition and relieves the film of the burden of future narration.

Phase two of this opening sequence continues into the class room as the group of young pupils begin asking questions about why the independents wouldn’t join them, one pupil claims their cannibals, another counters this and states “that’s only reavers”, another counters this claim stating “reavers aren’t real” and so on. The teacher stops this debate as it gets out of hand by speaking in Chinese; the children understand what she has said even if we have not (this is clearly a bi-lingual society) the use of Chinese will continue through the film and as with the series it only hints at a more complex political history than the one we’ve just been introduced to. The teacher continues to explain that the outer worlds are dangerous and asks the class why would the independents fight against them? Suddenly a girl who has continued to work at a rapid rate at the back of class speaks up: “we meddle” she states. The teacher identifies the young girl as River; she elaborates: “we’re in their homes we’re in their heads” she implies that the government continually tries to control the freedom of its citizens and that they haven’t the right. The teacher approaches River and reassures her: “we’re not telling people what to think; we’re just trying to show them how”. Phase two is now complete (at two minutes and nine seconds) we’ve identified a key character in the story, namely River Tam, we’ve established that there are dangers in the outer planets and that there may or may not be a violent group of cannibals called Reavers. Reavers will later become fundamentally important to the story, but there is something more important than setting up this threat to our main characters or even establishing the character of River. Whedon in just over two minutes has introduced the central theme of Serenity, the freedom to do with our lives what we see fit. The alliance doesn’t want individuals; it doesn’t want people to carve out a life for themselves. The alliance wants total control over every individual, this is what’s at stake and it is the tragic consequence of this attempted control which leads to the deaths of millions as revealed later at the end of Serenity’s second act. They meddle with the individual’s right to do as they please; they continually try to create a prosperous society with weapons and armies, but more insidiously by modifying entire planetary population’s behaviour with drugs in the atmosphere that no recipient consented to.

At this point Whedon plunges us into phase three, the teacher picks up a blade from River’s table and unexpectedly implales River’s forehead with it, we cut to a science lab where a futuristic medical device has just been similarly been plunged into a young woman’s forehead. A scientist can be seen standing behind this young woman who screams in terror, he states “she’s dreaming” and it is revealed that all we’ve just witnessed has been in her mind, it’s safe to assume that this young woman is in fact River Tam but viewers unfamiliar with Firefly will not be completely certain at this point. The camera pulls back so that we see the entire lab and another head scientist begins discussing why they work on River whilst she’s asleep; he describes how they implant images and suggestions. The head scientist is talking to an unknown man standing at the end of the room (once again viewers of the Firefly series will know him instantly to be Simon and will recognise the events we’re witnessing as Simon described breaking River out of this institution in the Firefly show). Finally the head scientist does in fact reveal the young woman to be River Tam and describes her as their star pupil and states “she’ll be ideal for defence deployment, even with the side effects”, we now know why their treating River in such a horrific way, they’re hoping to turn her into a weapon, during the following conversation between the scientist and Simon they mention that River is also a psychic and that the side effects of his treatments include mental instability. This is a masterstroke from Whedon as he manages to incorporate elements of Firefly history into the show, and has Simon posing as a military observer inspecting the project; this is crucially a very quick expositionary conversation which has a legitimate place in the film as Simon knows everything already but must pretend that he is ignorant of the facts. The doctor continues to brag that “key members of parliament have personally observed this subject” a crucial line as is revealed later, he continues to state that river is “a creature of extraordinary grace”. Simon confirms this and reveals his identity by agreeing with the doctor “yes, she always did like to dance”. The audience now know that Simon has a personal relationship with River and an ulterior motive for his presence. This revelation is compounded a second later when he activates a device which renders everyone else in the room unconscious, Simon then tries to wake River and unstrap her from the mechanical chair she is housed in, he reassures her in her semi-lucid state “River, it’s your brother Simon” his identity is revealed and his relationship to River, because River is semi-lucid the identification of Simon does not seem forced or contrived. Simon goes to check the main entrance to the lab when he turns around he is shocked to find River upright and now completely lucid, remarkably quick given her state merely seconds earlier. The action cuts to a security office where an alarm sounds and two men in black suits investigate its source. We cut back to the corridor outside the lab; River and Simon are now outside and on their way, but are still far from safety, a door can be heard opening, Simon instructs River to climb up, she begins to crawl up a nearby ladder, two other scientists walk past and are oblivious to River who has stretched herself across the ceiling of the corridor, a feat of physical strength which based on a surface appraisal we would not attribute to her. We cut ahead a few minute and Simon and River begin their escape, breaking into an elevator tube, jumping on a pulley which has been lowered down to them through an open ceiling by a space ship above them. The security agents try to get through the lift doors but with no success, just as River and Simon begin their assent to the craft above a lone and unfamiliar voice is heard from out of nowhere, he orders “stop” at exactly five minutes into the film and Whedon begins phase four of this protracted prologue.

The voice continues “back track” the action moves backwards and River and Simons lift descends several feet before he orders again “stop”. There is a cut to the frozen image of River’s face squatting on the lift platform, unexpectedly a man walks through this frozen image and River’s image is revealed to be a hologram, a pre-recorded surveillance tape of Simon and River breaking out of the scientific institute. The new unidentified man stares at the image of Simon and River for a moment then another voice can be heard, a familiar voice of the head scientist who explained River’s condition to Simon: “Excuse me! But no one is allowed in the records room without my express permission” he protests. We now know for certain that what we were witnessing was a past event; the unidentified man coldly asks forgiveness and confesses he prefers to watch the event “without bias”. The audience now wonders if we can trust anything to be exactly as it seems as we’ve moved from what at first appeared to be a third-party narration to what appeared to be a classroom lecture, which was revealed to be a dream being had by River just before a present-tense break out which was actually a holographic record of the event after the fact. It is to Whedon’s credit that he opens with such an unashamedly convoluted first scene that moves between four distinct environments without actually interrupting the scenes flow for a second. The fluidity of this sequence means that its expositionary content never feels forced or clunky, not only that but Whedon has managed to establish the world of his film in phase one, the themes of his film in phase two, the immediate past and the protagonists in phase three and now in phase four he establishes the antagonist and more importantly the central conflict of the entire film.

As the scene continues the flustered head scientist requests to see the unidentified mans clearance, the man agrees to this and coldly states “and you’re right to insist” as he places his palm on a computer screen. There is instantly something suspicious about this man, he is calm in everything, confident to be sure, but there is a darkness clearly lurking beneath. The computer gives him full access and the head scientist apologises and nods to his security guards to step away “an operative of the parliament will have full co-operation”. The man is now identified as an “operative” and whilst we’re not sure at this moment what that entails we notice how the Operative watches as the security men back away the whole time with his hands folded behind his back potentially leaving him open to attack. Is this stance to reassure those around him that he is no threat or simply brash cockiness on his part? The head scientist enquires about the lack of name or rank on his clearance, the operative calmly replies with a small smile on his face “I have neither, like this facility, I don’t exist.” The Operatives nature has now been revealed; he is a spy at the very least and possibly much more, but this line has also confirmed our suspicions that the experiments these scientists are conducting are not on the books, they’re not common knowledge. He now steps towards the head scientist and causes an immediate retreat, he recounts the events we’ve just witnessed, he confirms that River was their greatest success until her brother walked in and took her. The head scientist tries to defend himself against this charge, the Operative agrees that he had no way to predict what Simon was going to do, the scientist describes Simon’s actions as “madness”, the Operative disagrees and points out Simon’s face on the security log, the Operative stares up at the holograph of Simon and corrects the head scientist: “it’s love, in point of fact, something a good deal more dangerous”. This single line of dialogue has a huge wealth of subtext and tells us more about the Operative than Simon. The Operative almost seems to admire this quality in Simon, “love” might be something he’s never experienced personally; alternatively it could be something he’s had and lost, giving the Operative a special understanding of Simon’s actions. The Operative recognises that a person motivated by love is a danger to those around them, he understands the human spirit and he can accurately gage a person’s state of mind just by looking into their eyes. Whoever this Operative is, he now appears potentially far more threatening.

The Scientist asks why the Operative has come to the facility, he replies “because the situation is even less simple than you think”. A peculiar line of dialogue. The Operative asks the scientist if he knows what his sin is, something he will do again later in the film with another character. Here we establish the Operative’s ritual, undertaken before executing a man. The repeating of this line later in the film will cause apprehension within the audience because we know what is coming next. The Operative rewinds the log and replays the moment when the head scientist informed Simon that “key members of parliament have personally observed this subject”. The Operative explains that the scientist’s crucial mistake was to put “key members of Parliament” in a room with a psychic, from this we can deduce that River has gleamed some terrible secret or secrets which the government do not wish to be made public. The head scientist attempts to back peddle his way out of the situation, he nervously touches the back of his head and insists that if River knows something then she never spoke of it, he doesn’t know what it could be. The Operative agrees and admits that he doesn’t know either, another fact which will be of crucial importance later in the film when Mal successfully turns the Operative against the parliament by revealing exactly what that devastating secret is. But in the present moment the Operative clarifies the situation: “secrets are not my concern, keeping them is”. The Operative continues his execution ritual and recounts that in older societies when men had failed as much as the head scientist has they would throw themselves on their swords, the scientist jokes: “well I forgot to bring a sword” at which point the Operative reveals that he’s brought one himself. Within less than ten seconds the Operative kills the two security guards in a mercilessly efficient fashion, they have guns, he has a sword, but he is definitely the quickest of the three. He then chases the scientist pins him against a wall and assaults a nerve cluster near his hip, the head scientist is paralysed where he stands, the Operative places the sword beneath him pointing upwards, the head scientist involuntarily falls on the sword, slowly and painfully it impales him. The Operative re-assures him “this is a good death, there’s no shame in this” he complements him on his fine work “we’re making a better world, all of them, better worlds”. It is an elaborate execution which could have easily gone wrong had he not timed it so precisely, the Operative even spoke to another woman in the room as he embarked on this killing, this is clearly something he’s done before and something he will attempt again later in the film with Mal in the final act. The Operative removes the sword from the dead scientist and cleans his blade whilst approaching the holographic image of River again, he asks the hologram a simple question which sets up the conflict of the film perfectly: “where are you hiding, little girl?” We cut to black; the title Serenity appears on screen.

The first ten minutes are over. Whedon used the old it’s-actually-a-man-watching-a-suveilliance-tape-of-a-woman-who-had-a-dream-that-included-a-lesson-on-the-history-of-this-galaxy-disguised-as-third-party-narration trick! These first ten minutes are frankly relentless, Whedon pulls the rug from under us three times and each time is more effective than the last. He establishes so much of the required information in the first ten minutes that it’s hard to keep-up; what’s even more impressive is that this expositionary sequence is done in such a way that even viewers of Firefly will be interested as he finally reveals what it is that happened to River and why the authorities want her back so desperately. It’s not the value of River as a weapon but rather the secret that she may or may not know. For the Firefly viewers we also get the pleasure of seeing Simon break River out of the facility for the first time, something which we heard about but never witnessed in the show and we’re also introduced to a pivotal new character, the Operative, who kick starts the film with that final line. Thus far we only know about River and the Operative, and to say that they’re the only ones of significance would be inaccurate, there is one other character of pivotal importance and that is our hero Mal. He would be introduced seconds later along with the remainder of the crew of Serenity, indeed Whedon doesn’t let up the pace of his introductory/explanatory opening until about fifteen minutes into the film. But while we concentrate on the first ten minutes there is perhaps only one crucial element of Serenity missing - the dark sense of humour and wit that pervades the rest of the movie. Only the scientists quip about forgetting to bring his sword, hints at what is to come in this area, but this is a minor gag and not nearly as humorous as the banter between Mal and Jayne for example. But for every one thing Whedon hasn’t established in the first ten minutes, there are twenty things he has. It is a remarkable opening sequence which puts the Firefly fans dread of insulting their vast knowledge to rest and firmly establishes the environment for those who have no knowledge at all – surely these first ten minutes are the finest balancing act in recent cinema history.

M.Dawson