"Annihilation" (2018)

High up in the list of films I knew that I would have to see this year, but among those that were in the category of “I can’t look away,” I thought “Annihilation” was going to be a mess. But it was not as much as I had thought. Usually these sorts of stories do not provide much of a clue about what they are trying to communicate. (The best way to seem smart is to fly over everybody’s heads.) But “Annihilation” clearly has a message—or even a few messages—in mind. It even spells out some of its ideas in clunky ways.

Spoilers follow.

People have talked a lot about the imagery and references to cancer. Lena studies cancer, and the effects of the meteor on lifeforms resemble the damaging mutation of cancer. That seems to be an important part of the message, but not on its own.

Another key to the ideas in the film is given straight out in an expositional conversation, where the psychologist tells Lena that people are programed to self-destruct. All of the characters exhibit this trait. It is similar to the cancer imagery, but on an interpersonal, internal level.

The biggest clue is revealed slowly, and non-sequentially. Lena is revealed to have had an affair, which her husband knew about. It is what sent him on the suicide mission into the shimmer. Her desire to rectify that is what sends her in. And the relationship between Kane and Lane is at the center of the whole story.

In many ways, it is an exploration of what Christians call “sin nature.” The spiritual cancer of humanity is our self-destructive drive. We destroy ourselves. But the story of the alien invasion here is more nuanced. Lane states that, unlike our self-destructive programing, the alien force was making something new. The Kane that returns and tries clumsily to reconcile with Lena is not the same man who left. And some question whether the Lena that returns is the same as well.

The final shot of the film does not answer that question, but we see that change is occurring. Either the Lena who returned was changing, or contact with the new Kane is triggering it.

It is not straightforward enough to declare anything definite, but there are hints of hope here. That sin and broken relationships can be overcome. That radical, core changes are needed to repair what is broken in us, but that our essential, recognizable being remains. It is not a Biblical message, but it can be read that way.

It is still a bit of a mess, though.