*****Warning: Spoilers below, don't read if you don't want to know what happens*****
Okay, well, I think the main problem (and there are many many others) with Insurrection is the basic plot. Here it is, in a nutshell:
Now, in case you can't spot the flaw in this already, allow me to assist:
Why are the 600 Baku colonists entitled to the ENTIRE PLANET FOREVER while the rest of the Galaxy shouldn't set foot there? I could at least understand the moral argument if the Baku were native to the planet, but they're not, they're interstellar colonists (many of them first generation settlers) just like the people trying to evict them. What is the moral argument for Picard taking sides in what's clearly a straightforward turf war?
Worse than that, why are the 600 Baku entitled to ETERNAL LIFE (having already enjoyed several illness-free centuries of bonus time) while countless millions suffering elsewhere (including the supposed villains of the whole film!) aren't given access to the fountain?
Now, I know the Federation is meant to be an idealistic vision, but it's not meant to be an absurd parody. Even if the Baku had been native to the planet (which they're not), the 600 figure is just way way way too small to sound plausible as a reason for Picard's rebellion (goodness me, there are more people on board the Enterprise!).
Yes, I know Picard gives a speech where he says "how many before it becomes immoral?", but by that logic he would have rebelled against the federation even if there was just 1 colonist. Can you imagine how plausible the film would have seemed then? ("Don't worry, Mr Baku, we and our entire crew of hundreds will die to protect your illness-free immortal lifestyle on your own private planet!")
To sum up, this film supposedly tries to make a point about ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and elsewhere, but by removing all traces of the horror (the murders, the death camps, the torture, the rapes, the mass graves, the genocide, the bloodfeuds, the poisonous nationalists on *all* sides) and by making the Baku first-generation colonists rather than natives, what you have left is a comparatively minor, questionable and extremely boring treatise on international property rights.
It's like watching a film discussing Norway's claim to Antarctica. Who cares?
Okay, well, I think the main problem (and there are many many others) with Insurrection is the basic plot. Here it is, in a nutshell:
- A tiny number of space colonists (called the Baku) land on a planet and find a fountain of youth there. None of them age or die or even get ill. They stay on the planet for a couple of centuries and there's now a population of 600 there (gosh, either they're VERY inbred or they don't have kids very often!).
- The Federation (within whose territory the planet lies) would like everyone in the galaxy to have access to this fountain, and not just the 600 space colonists. To do this they want to move the colonists to another similar planet while they set up equipment to make the fountain available to everyone (including the 600 space colonists).
- Picard & co think the space colonists should be entitled to stay on the planet as long as they like, with the planet to themselves, and no one else is allowed to touch the planet.
Now, in case you can't spot the flaw in this already, allow me to assist:
Why are the 600 Baku colonists entitled to the ENTIRE PLANET FOREVER while the rest of the Galaxy shouldn't set foot there? I could at least understand the moral argument if the Baku were native to the planet, but they're not, they're interstellar colonists (many of them first generation settlers) just like the people trying to evict them. What is the moral argument for Picard taking sides in what's clearly a straightforward turf war?
Worse than that, why are the 600 Baku entitled to ETERNAL LIFE (having already enjoyed several illness-free centuries of bonus time) while countless millions suffering elsewhere (including the supposed villains of the whole film!) aren't given access to the fountain?
Now, I know the Federation is meant to be an idealistic vision, but it's not meant to be an absurd parody. Even if the Baku had been native to the planet (which they're not), the 600 figure is just way way way too small to sound plausible as a reason for Picard's rebellion (goodness me, there are more people on board the Enterprise!).
Yes, I know Picard gives a speech where he says "how many before it becomes immoral?", but by that logic he would have rebelled against the federation even if there was just 1 colonist. Can you imagine how plausible the film would have seemed then? ("Don't worry, Mr Baku, we and our entire crew of hundreds will die to protect your illness-free immortal lifestyle on your own private planet!")
To sum up, this film supposedly tries to make a point about ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and elsewhere, but by removing all traces of the horror (the murders, the death camps, the torture, the rapes, the mass graves, the genocide, the bloodfeuds, the poisonous nationalists on *all* sides) and by making the Baku first-generation colonists rather than natives, what you have left is a comparatively minor, questionable and extremely boring treatise on international property rights.
It's like watching a film discussing Norway's claim to Antarctica. Who cares?