Humans v. Apes: Black and White? Or Somewhere In Between?

Undoubtedly, Matt Reeves' "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" was the best movie I saw this summer. In all honesty, the movie's prequel, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" didn't leave a major impression on me, so I didn't have super high expectations going to the movie theater. To my pleasant surprise, "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" was an action-packed, thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat, while compelling me to reevaluate my conceptions of good and evil, and love and hate. I enjoyed the movie so much that I saw it a second time with a group of my friends.

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" takes place ten years after "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", in which a significant percentage of the world has been wiped out by the "Simian Flu", a side-effect of a drug created to cure Alzheimer's disease. Under the leadership of Caesar, the apes that escaped in the previous movie are now living in a complex village outside of San Francisco. The apes have not been in contact with humans for years and believe that they are completely gone. Caesar, an ape that had lived comfortably with a kind-hearted man in the previous movie,  still has some compassion for humans and worries about them, to an extent. The movie picks up pace when Caesar's son, Blue Eyes and his friend, Ash go hunting in the woods and encounter a group of humans, who end up shooting Ash. From that point on, things will never be the same for humans or apes. I will stop right there and not spoil the rest of the movie for the individuals who want to see it.

Looking at the movie from an analytical standpoint, there a plethora of recurring themes throughout the movie.. In the movie, there is not only tension between humans and apes, as that is obvious, but there is also conflict within the individual groups themselves. Like most people, I went into the movie thinking that it would be a full on war between the apes and humans, but that is not what the movie is about all. From my perspective, the movie is about love and hate, and how it impacts all species, not just humans. In the movie, there are apes like Caesar who do not hate humans, while there are others who are out for revenge, like Koba. There are compassionate humans, such as Malcolm and Ellie, who want to maintain peaceful relations with the apes, while there are those who will kill the apes in a second, if it means they can get access to their resources.Suffice it to say, human or ape, we choose whether we will forgive and love one another, or carry hate in our hearts and destroy each other.

Good movies don't draw clear lines between good and bad; they blur them. For example, the ape, Koba, who in short betrayed Caesar and lit the match that started the violence between the apes and humans, has a story, too. Often times in movies and books, we are not told what the antagonist has experienced or given any background information about them. Prior to "Dawn", Koba was a lab ape who was severely abused and left emotionally and physically scarred. A powerful moment in the movie was when Caesar remarked, "Let them do their human work," in reference to the humans trying to fix the dam for power, Koba pointed to the scars on his body and angrily replied, "Human work. Human work!" Although Koba ultimately chose the path of hate and betrayed Caesar as well as his fellow apes, you can't help but feel bad about what happened to him.

I left the theater wondering: Can we truly choose our path in our lives? Or are we products of our experiences, despite our best efforts? Maybe it's a mix of both. I will never know.