REVIEW

MOVIE: THE UNKNOWN

PRODUCER: AARON AUCH

CAST: LIAM NEESON, DIANE KRUGER, JANUARY JONES, AIDAN QUINN, BRUNO GANZ.

DIRECTOR: MAX KEENE

YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 2011

REVIEWER: ALADESE TENIOLA A.

The movie, ‘unknown’ is one that I could watch a thousand times without getting bored, and yet, I have no particular reason why. Maybe it’s because of the whole action and thriller mix. Or the fact that I just love movies that push the human mind to think.   

The movie revolves around Dr. Martin Harris (Liam neeson), a man who arrives in Berlin with his wife, Elizabeth Harris for a science conference and a meeting with Professor L.P Bressler, who specializes in molecular botanics and has dedicated the past years to the optimization of food crops. Martin, in his bid to retrieve his briefcase from the airport, has an accident and when he wakes up from coma, his memory is jumbled up. All he can remember is the accident, the reason he’s in Berlin and his wife.

Upon the doctor’s release, he gets to the hotel only to find another person claiming to be Dr. Martin Harris with his wife by his side. The taxi driver (Diane Kruger) that was driving while the accident occurred is the one that now helps him in his quest for the truth. Now, this is where the real action starts, but I wouldn’t dare give any of the juicy details up.

I guess the reason why I absolutely love this movie lies in the fact that it portrays the importance and relevance of science and technology journalism/reporting. This can be seen from the new strain of corn that Prof. Bressler was working on. In the movie, television reporters and journalists reported that Prof. Bressler was developing a strain of corn that would grow in any climate. The corn was also reported to be fast growing, self propagating, drought tolerant and pest resistant and would be made available worldwide.

While Bressler was working on this project, the press reported that he would announce the findings of his latest project in the convention. And when he concluded his research, his findings were reported. This signifies the importance and relevance of science and technology reporting. It enables individuals to have a good understanding of scientific occurrences and makes way for economic development. It also improves the standard of living. Since scientific journalism is the gathering, development and dissemination of scientific discoveries, the journalists did their job right and we should take a cue from them. I urge you to go watch this movie. I promise you, you’ll be glad you did.