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| Ender's Game ticket, straight outta Chadron. Photo by Kirkland Ross' 14. Copyright Red Cloud Indian School. |
Film Review: Ender’s Game
By Kirkland Ross ‘14
Action, adventure and rising to occasion. These are all descriptions of Ender’s Game.
Ender’s Game is a movie based off the book by Orson Scott Card that takes place in the year 2086, fifty years after an alien invasion. A program was created to transform the minds of intelligent, young children into strategic, militant minds. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is among the children within the program. Throughout the movie, Ender and his newly-made friends survive battle school and help stop an alien race before it annihilates the human race. Ender learns the secret of defeating an enemy and loving your enemy as they love themselves. Only then can you destroy them.
Ender’s Game is a work of art. The graphics are done extremely well. The plotline is very intricate. You will not want to take your eyes off the screen. Gavin Hood, the director, makes you sit at the edge of your seat. He takes you on a epic journey of finding the hero in oneself.
"I liked it," said Jaycherie Little '14. "They should've elaborated on Ender being a third child and more about the world. I like how it ended.”
It is overall a good movie. Action lovers will love it, sci-fi fans will adore it, and families will enjoy it.
This is an incredibly good book. It is important to note that children are used all over the world as soldiers because they lack the inhibitions that adults manifest. Ender killed one boy (it does not come out in the movie) and permanently cripples a second child. The people who are training him see this as a strength and do not want him to have compassion.
ReplyDeleteI also find the teaching methodologies important. Ender and his colleagues are using tablet computers to access and manipulate learning environments. Game theory in education was started by the US Military academies to train cadets. Scott-Card brings to question the use of this type of learning as it lacks the moral compass of more introspective learning methodologies. The movie, and the book, show us it is possible to teach almost anything to someone and to make that acceptable to them, so long as the subject does not have to reflect on the morality of what they are doing. This is a cautionary tail about our educational system and the blind trust in what we teach being important.
Finally, the concept of genocide of an entire species speaks out to the modern era. Because of misunderstandings and fear, the society begs for attacking an enemy that they really don't know. Is this really any different than other genocides in the past. Does mankind only know how to interact with violence.
This is a great movie and a better book.