The Truth Can Change You

             Curiosity. It is the spark to every great discovery. Being curious is one thing, but being too curious is another. In the film “The Fly,” I learned that obsessiveness on the search for truth can transform you…literally.  

           

          The film started off with the scientist, Andre Delambre, squashed between two hydraulic chambers, and it was the loving wife who, apparently, did the crime. Of course for a story to be considered “horror,” gruesome and tragic events, such as this, were bound to happen. Consequently, the morbid killing of the husband sparked the thrill in the film. After the murder, Helen calls her brother-in-law, Francois, to confess her crime. From here on out, the story was told on Francois’s perspective. As a result, the element of mystery started to form. For instance, as Helen was confessing, she was dazed, but oddly calm. And as she was being investigated, there wasn’t any appropriate misery a wife should give for her dead husband.It was insane of her to kill her husband, and yet she stayed well-composed. There were also odd scenes in the film that made me wonder if the film was actually a comedy, and that made me think of various questions. But of course, everything started to make sense when Helen told her flashback story.

Personally, I liked the film. It did start off with me asking a lot of questions, but that was probably a good thing. The plot was able to put us in the “dark” for a short time, where we were all wondering “What really happened?” But eventually, Helen’s flashback story gave light to every question. Aside from the excellent plot, the actors were also terrific. The loving moments between Helen and Andre were appropriately portrayed. Some of Helen’s actions were also quite humorous, despite it’s the 21^st century already, and the film was made way back in the 1950s. I also consider the film a morality play. A morality play is something which involves conflict between good and evil from which a lesson may arise. In the film, Andre was giving too much time for his inventions and not enough for his son and wife. He was too engaged and engrossed on his work, so his turning into a fly can be considered his punishment. After his metamorphosis, he had little time to spend with his wife when he could have had so much more if he only turned his head to his family.  

  

The Fly was a smart and well-written film. It showed human’s striving for technological advancement, yet it also spoke of the fears it had along with it. Through it, I realized that scientists before had the same goals as scientists today; to improve the future. It is also most likely that scientists have already made ground-breaking inventions; inventions that could make our humanity today much more advanced than it is now. It is only fear of the inventions falling into the wrong hands that stops the “technological inventions” from going public. Afterall, some things just aren’t meant to be discovered.

 By Nicole Ann Tesoro
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