FOE (2023) Review / Synopsis (Spoilers)

FOE (2023) is a science fiction movie rather different than the average. It makes you think deeply about humanity and how our world is being shaped by science and our desire to always advance and control our world. It does this on the liminal level and the subliminal level.

The world of the not too distant future is devastated by a global mega drought that has killed off most of the plants on earth. All that is left is cooperate farms that use the power of modern growing methods and heavy irrigation to grow crops. There is a scene with a massive dust storm like in the great depression.

The two leads are a husband and wife (Junior and Hen). You are lead to believe that Junior has been selected to go to a space station to work for a long time and that Hen will be left with a replacement like him that will be grown for her.

The man from the company stays with the couple on their farm for a while and "interviews" Junior and Hen. Junior seems to be reluctant at best and does a few very out of the ordinary things. The couple grow together rather strongly, and it is all going well other than the stress of his eventually leaving.

Most of the way through, there is a scene where people in suits are on the farm and flying craft are moving about. Junior grabs the shotgun and tries to defend his land. He is knocked out by one of the people in a suit. It is then you realize, this is actually the simulant that was grown to keep Hen company.

We move into the house and there are people sitting in chairs looking at the simulant chained to the floor and struggling and crying. The real Junior comes in and is amazed how real it is and completely uncaring that it has feeling and emotions. Then again, the cooperate people don't care either. The only one who cared about it is Hen and she is extremely upset.

We see the cold uncaring face of science and cooperate greed when they inject the simulant with something that will kill it. The fact that this is a living thinking being that has a sense of self, feelings, and the ability to love is ignored by all but hen. We are left to think, would this be us if it was to profit the cooperation? The strongest part for me of this section of the movie is Hen yelling, "This cannot be forgiven." Indeed, there is a lot we cannot forgive of the system.

Hen goes and plays the piano (rather well I may add) and then smashes it with a shovel. The next morning Junior is in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee and looking for Hen. There is a note on the table with his name on it, but it is just a blank piece of paper. This is in reference to what she has said to the man interviewing the couple. She has left him.

Cut to Junior sitting at the table with two place settings and a bottle of wine that has been supplied by the man who did the interviews. Junior is crying and in a bad state. Then walks in Hen and acts like nothing has happened. We are left feeling that it's not actually her from this.

They get on well, and the blinking light on the back of the neck is not there like it was with the Junior simulant, so we think, "maybe it's really her." Then at the very end it cuts to the real Hen in a plain looking out the window as it takes off. The Hen on the far is in fact a simulant and the twisted experiment by the cooperation is still going on.

The acting in this movie is well above average and the writing is also above average. IMDB has this at 5.4/10 but I have to say this is an amazing movie and I think it is rather above the average person, as the thought needed to see the intent is rather deep - deeper than most people are willing to go with entertainment. I'm going to give this a 9/10. It drew me in deeply and it made me very emotional at times. It is extremely rare that I do not play with my phone when a movie is on, as I'm very addicted to the dang thing, but I never picked the phone up once.

There are things I'm left wondering about however. Junior seems perfectly able when he comes home, but not long after he needs help into the bath tub. We never know what happened to make this so. I am left wondering if it's not actually him, and in the end it's two simulants on the farm together. Is this the beginning of a new engineered race of humans? There are indeed questions to be asked at the ending.

To end, this is an amazing movie, and in my mind well worth watching.