Annihilationby Alex Garland is as colorfully complex as it is enigmatic. A crafty and thought-provoking film,Annihilationdelves into the unexplored territory of five women, with an overarching theme of one woman scientist who struggles to save her husband’s life. Yet there is more going on in this film than just solving the question of what happened to her spouse.
Garland utilizes the convenient wrap-around point of solvingthe Shimmering’s mystery to tell the experiencesof five other women who battle with brokenness, and how it finally leads to self-destructive conduct in their own ways. To comprehend such a complicated finale, one must return to the beginning.
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What Happens At The End Of Annihilation?
What makes the world ofAnnihilationso interesting is the deceptive nature that comes into play with their sense of choice in entering such a dangerous mission concerning The Shimmering. Their unbridled eagerness to accept an adventure into the unknown ultimately fuels the characters throughout their mission. Rather than trying to eradicate this rainbow-tinged entity, the desire to gain knowledge and understanding propels their stories. Even for protagonist Lena (Natalie Portman), her desires remain oddly straightforward: she wishes to save her husband Kane from what the Shimmering has caused. While each team member is unusually optimistic about this endeavor,everyone has a deeper motive for being on this mission.
Annihilation’splot starts with biologist Lena, a scientist mourning the death of her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac). He inexplicably comes back after he has gone missing for over a year, with no explanation about what happened to him. Lena is confused andleft with more questions than answersabout her husband’s return, but something has changed him. When asked about the mission, he can’t recall what has happened, is deathly ill, and starts coughing up blood on site.
Kane has been infected by the Shimmer, an infectious dome-shaped membrane enveloping Florida’s swampland area. Suspecting that the contamination may be connected with extraterrestrial lifeforms, Lena embarks on this mission to save her husband while investigating the peculiar happenings associated with these rainbow-like sentient beings. Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a psychologist, leads the five-woman squad.Each character has their motivationsfor being on this excursion, with each reason a clever misdirection of the actual truth.
The Core Themes Of Annihilation
While initial curiosity and a sense of duty propel the mission forward, Garland makes the point that while everyone on this mission has a traumatic past, they have chosen to be there on their terms, despite the risks.But, asAnnihilation’s narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that it is more than accomplishing a goal that keeps them here. Dr. Ventress is suffering from cancer, and the weight of having sent other men to their deaths hangs in the balance of her conscience. When Kane returns from Dr. Ventress’s mission, he is the only one to have made it back, but not without mental or physical costs.
Likewise, Tessa Thompson (Josie Radek) is suicidal due to a life of aimlessness that constantly torments her, and Tuva Novotny (Cass Sheppard) deals with the pain of losing her daughter. While Lena has motivations of her own for,each woman carries the weightof the personal trauma in their lives. It’s not just about fulfilling a duty; it’s about personal retribution for the things that keep each of them in this shattered state.
For Lena, what keeps her in this state is the belief that Dr. Ventress sent her husband on a mission that he was doomed to fail, something she soon realizes is not the complete truth. Dr. Ventress tells her that no one is suicidal, only self-destructive. Even the thought of pleasurable vices or selfish desires might lead to self-destruction. Throughout the film, vignettes of Kane and Lena’s loving past suggest that they had a perfect marriage.However, Dr. Ventress suggests otherwise. While she had a hand in his taking this mission, she implies that Kane willingly chose to go on this mission over his marriage.
This, however, turns out to be another veiled version of reality. While both met and had careers in the Army, inside these prior bits of recollection, Kane and Lena are not as compatible as the preceding flashbacks implied. This is seen in their discourse about God, contrasting Lena’s scientific approach with Kane’s religious viewpoint.The flashbacks also unveilthat she is having an affair with one of her co-workers, proving the marriage was already in rough tides before Oscar took the mission.
While viewers never see this in action, one can surmise that Kane already knew of Lena’s infidelity and the thought of addressing it was too much for him to bear. Hence, Kane’s denial of his failing marriage is what forces him to take on these dangerous missions. This is revealed in Kane’s lack of love and compassion toward her when he leaves for the last mission. He knows that whether he leaves or not, it does not change what she is going or will continue to do. While what Dr. Ventrees states is true, it isLena’s selfish desires that caused the destructionof her marriage and ultimately caused him to leave. In many ways, this destroyed them both. While deep down she hates herself and her co-worker for what she did to her husband, Kane goes into this mission knowing it could kill him, However, the truth has already damaged and killed who he is as a partner to the person he loved most.
Brokenness and self-destruction are integral themes ofAnnihilation,and the five women represent this going into this mission. The Shimmer is a mirror image of this problem on a larger scale. Mutating and destroying the world on an environmental level, Lena’s inability to stop what is happening reflects what is happening in the world. Natural resources continue to decay and be misused daily. As the world dismantles due to humankind’s own self-destruction, all one can do is watch.The power of destruction is shownnot just in the Shimmer’s conscious eradication of the environment, but in Lena’s lack of mental fighting spirit regarding her marriage. Since she has let her marriage crash and burn, she feels that doing this for Kane will rid her of guilt.
What Does The End of Annihilation Mean?
In the conclusion ofAnnihilation, Oscar’s videotape evidence concludes that the Kane who came to Lena’s home, was not Kane, but a version of him. The Shimmer reacts differently depending on how close it is to the lighthouse. Some mutations are simple constructs of original forms, while others are precisereplicas of the individuals who come in contactwith it. Like Kane, the Shimmer establishes an intimate connection with Lena, morphing into a mirror image of the scientist. After these experiences, Lena tells other scientists that the Shimmer does not intend to destroy the planet, but rather to change it. This relates to Dr. Ventress' point earlier in the film: deliberate or not, the purpose of destruction is always present.
When the Shimmer morphs into Lena, it not only takes on her physical shape, but also her mental state. Her anger and selfish desires throughout the film are what cause the Shimmer to self-destruct. In essence, the clone physically destroys what Lena has already theoretically killed: her relationship and the home she built with Kane.The Shimmer’s obsessive need to self-destructforces it to destroy itself, in exchange for Lena’s life. While she is aware that she will not return to the lover she once knew, after the events of her mission, they embrace, and their eyes glow in unison.
The Shimmer lives on biologically through Kane and Lena by connecting with them, implying that the more deeply the Shimmer interacts with its host, the easier it is to create a symbiotic relationship with that person. The Shimmer has developed into something else within them, allowing for a new partnership to manifest with the new people they have emerged from the Shimmer’s influences. Because of the Shimmer’s ability to grow, change, and manifest itself in others,Annhilation’sending introduces another chilling concept: the bubble never stopped growing. By killing a version of itself to be “reborn,” it pushed the human species to succumb to another type of creation, resulting in a new method for the Shimmer to thrive within other hosts.
