The meaning of the movie Us. In March 2019, Jordan Peele’s thriller Us premiered. The new thriller J. Peel “Us” (2019) caused mixed reviews from critics and viewers. This is a film for intellectuals who are able to think about the question: “Who is this “Us”?
The plot of the film Us
1986 Santa Cruz (California, USA). Adelaide Thomas, an 11-year-old girl, walking late at night with her parents along the embankment, at some point finds herself in a strange room.
Our days. Adult Adelaide, with her husband and teenage children, travels to Santa Cruz for the weekend. She has not been here for a long time, but memories of him haunt a woman all her life. She sees only clear signs for her: a man with a sign “JEREMIE” in his hands, the number “11:11”, the sign “EXIT” … Places familiar from childhood do not please her, but frighten her. At some point, she asks her husband to leave, but he is unwilling to take her childhood fears seriously. And the story that in that room with mirrors she saw an exact copy of herself, only living her own, “through the mirror” life, makes Gabe smile.
Holidays with the Tyler family do not bring Adelaide joy, she can hardly tolerate the obsessive chatter of Kitty Tyler. Evening comes. The Wilsons are at home, getting ready for bed, but they notice that a strange family is standing in front of the house. Gabe’s attempts to drive away strange guests cause aggression in the latter, and they enter the house.
It turns out that these personalities are distorted copies of the Wilson family. Their twins, antipodes. They are deprived of freedom and choice, their fate is to copy the actions of their prototypes. And how happy the Wilsons are, how unhappy those others are.
Seeking salvation, the Wilsons run away from the terrible house, and in the fight with Gabe, his double Abraham dies.
When they get to the Tylers’ house, they realize that their friends are dead: the same tragedy happened to them. After destroying the antipodes of the Tylers, the Wilsons try to contact someone and call for help. At this time, local news reports that millions of doppelgangers have taken over the country.
The Wilsons kill Umbra and Pluto, the twins of their children, and the teenager Jason deals with his clone himself, sending him into the fire. At that moment, Red appears, a copy of Adelaide herself. She came for Jason.
Adelaide knows where to look for her son: he is there, among the mirrors. Here Red meets her and tells her that they are the result of a failed US government experiment. They are called “Connected”, because they cannot interrupt the invisible that connects them with real people.
Now the soulless entities are forgotten in the underground labyrinths: they cannot speak, think, feel, live. And only Red was able to prepare them to protest against a terrible and meaningless existence.
Realizing the danger of the situation, Adelaide kills Red and saves her son.
Leaving the city, the Wilsons hope that now everything will be fine. Adelaide remembers again how she first met Red. And only now one important circumstance is becoming clear: it was she, Red, then, back in 1986. And it was she who dragged the real Adelaide into her underworld, and she herself took her place above.
The meaning of the film
Jordan Peele worked on the film knowing that Americans would understand and appreciate his vision. Attempts by the US government to organize total surveillance of everyone and endless, secret experiments of the special services – all this has long been a concern not only for ordinary Americans, but also for the world community. Since Snowden made public what was carefully hidden, this topic has not lost its relevance. So Jordan Peele makes you think: who lives next to you, and who are you?
Explanation of the movie Us
Thriller “Us” cannot be called a horror film in the direct sense of the word. It is rather a new format for intellectuals who are fond of horror topics.
While watching, endless associations with horror classics arise, but Peel does not just copy, he presents seemingly familiar moments from a different angle. For example, those who remember “Night of the Living Dead”, after watching “Us”, will quickly draw an analogy: here and there the city is captured by zombies, the main characters fight with them, either winning, or losing and dying. But Peel does not show the dead, the antipodes presented to him are unfortunate entities that do not cause disgust and disgust. They do not seek to kill everyone and everything, they just want to live and win their place under the sun.
Now let’s remember the thrillers “Strangers” (2007), “Paradise Lake” (2008), “You’re finished!” (2013). In these films, as in “Us”, according to the plot, a prosperous family is attacked at night by those who inspire fear and hurt. But Peel’s are not maniacs or aggressive strangers, but the crippled essence of the owners of the house.
There are classic horror movie tricks in the film:
Lights suddenly fading Mysterious coincidences The main action takes place at night Strange people (man on the beach) Masks hiding faces (Jason and Pluto)
Of course, during the viewing, some questions arise for the director, for example, how can the soulless Red raise an uprising among her own kind? Why is she one of the millions of creatures who wants to get out of the terrible imprisonment? And only in the end you understand: she is a real person!
Meaning of the movie ending Us
Throughout the film, the viewer empathizes with the main character Adelaide: she is afraid, tormented, trying to protect herself from memories. And the audience’s compassion lasts until the last minutes of the film, when it becomes clear that Adelaide, or rather Red, is not afraid of anything, she simply does not want her secret to be revealed to those with whom she has to live, pretending to be the real Adelaide.
The first frames of the film mention an endless labyrinth of underground tunnels, which are a kind of chain that has entangled the whole world. Then, in passing, briefly, it is said about the action, during which everyone should join hands, uniting against hunger … As soon as the main action begins, the audience forgets about it. And only the last shots of the film bring them back to the beginning of the thriller. Only now it becomes clear what Peel wanted to say, showing a chain of people in red holding hands, a chain that stretched for many kilometers. Or maybe they aren’t people at all?
Write in the comments your meaning of the movie We. We look forward to waiting!