Made in the USA and released in 2011, “Against Time” is a dystopian, action and thriller movie, but it is very realistic in terms of the messages it contains. The movie stars Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy. Andrew Niccol is also the director of the movie. The main theme of the movie is the following question:
What would happen in a world where time was the currency?
Our movie takes place in a world where people start aging after the age of 25 and can only live for a year if they don’t earn time. In short, time is now the currency. The wages you work for are credited to your account in time. Everything is earned in time and spent in time. Thus, all needs such as buses, food and drink, clothing and shelter are paid for in time. On everyone’s sleeve is written how much time they have left, and payment is made according to the time they have left. For example, if you want to buy a small coffee, you give 3 minutes of your life and if you want to buy a big coffee, you give 4 minutes.
Will Salas, the main character of our movie, saves the life of Henry Hamilton, a young man he meets in a bar who has thousands of years to live. But for Henry, living has lost its meaning. For this reason, he leaves his remaining life to Will by saying “Don’t waste my time” and commits suicide. However, the conversations between the two before the suicide constitute the most remarkable dialogues of the movie.
-Most people must die for a few of us to become immortal. Not everyone can be immortal. Where would all those people live? Why are there time zones? Why do you think taxes and prices go up on the same day in the suburbs? The cost of living goes up so that people keep dying. How else can someone have a million years when most people barely make it through the evening?
Will wakes up in the morning to find he has thousands of years to live and, as Henry says, he doesn’t waste his time. He goes to the wealthy neighborhood of New Greenwich to put a stop to the wheels of this system. Here, as in our world, neighborhoods are divided according to money, that is, time, and the order is shaped according to what these neighborhoods have. In this new city he meets Sylvia, the daughter of Mr. Weis, a rich businessman.
Although Sylvia is rich because of her family, she is not satisfied with this system. She thinks it is meaningless to live with bodyguards all the time in order not to die and therefore not to take any risks in her life. According to Sylvia, one should not live forever. Together with Will, they are involved in a struggle to ensure justice and to distribute time to people who struggle to live with a single day of life in the slums. However, those who manage the time system, the time police and the time gangs will give them difficulties in this struggle. However, there is no need for anyone to die untimely. In this sense, the film criticizes the construction of the capitalist system. In order for a few people to have a lot of things, many people have to work and die ruthlessly. Just like in our world!