Annihilation, A Film To Understand The Unknown

Imagine that, one day, a different part of the world would appear. So different that it didn’t correspond to anything known. A place that caused admiration, respect and a hint of fear. What would you do? Would you investigate the place? Would you watch him from a safe distance? Would you try to run away? Alex Garland’s latest film Annihilation, starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, puts us in this position and fuels our curiosity about the unknown.

The film, based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name, offers us a different world. A space in the world that, for no apparent reason, took on a strange appearance. After a meteorite collides with a lighthouse, its surroundings begin to change. A kind of bubble, which grows gradually, generates a different world inside it.

The beginning of the Annihilation movie

The beginning of the film shows us a biologist named Lena (Natalie Portman) being interrogated by a man dressed in clothing that prevents him from having contact with hazardous materials. She is not sure what happened, but the interrogator claims that she has been absent for months and that her companions have disappeared. With this uncertain beginning, Annihilation  introduces us to the world of the unknown and, indirectly, to the world of research.

The main plot revolves around Lena, a biology professor who teaches how cancer cells multiply. Her husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac), has been missing for a year. Kane was in the military and had completed a mission that Lena knew nothing about. As a surprise, one day Kane shows up at home. However, he doesn’t remember anything. He doesn’t know where he’s been or what he’s done. He just looks sick.

Shimmer

Without wanting to spoil the Annihilation movie  , we’ll focus on Shimmer. Shimmer is what they call the area that is growing around the lighthouse. This strange new world that no one has returned from. Several missions went to Shimmer, but only one person was able to return. Can you imagine who? Yes, Kane, Lena’s husband. He was the only one who came back, but he doesn’t remember anything that happened while he was there.

All those who entered were military. People who were dedicated to security. However, this time around,  the new team that is willing to join the Shimmer is different. The team is made up of women trained to carry out research. Lena approaches four women willing to investigate what is going on inside Shimmer. The women, experts in psychology, physics, geology, biology and medicine, set out on an adventure in search of some explanation of what Shimmer is.

Psychology in the movie Annihilation

We will finish the story of the film here. The goal is not to spoil the surprises, so anyone who wants to know the ins and outs of Shimmer will have to see him. However, the purpose of this article is to understand the film’s relationship with psychology and research.

Shimmer represents the unknown. Usually, the unknown provokes two reactions. On the one hand, it generates fear. Fear of what we don’t know, of uncertainty, of not knowing. This fear also arises in front of people, not just in places. Thus, there are those who reject the immigrant because they are afraid, because they do not know him and have a false image of him.

On the other hand,  the unknown sometimes also generates attraction. Call it interest or morbid curiosity, but fear of what is considered exotic can also cause attraction. In this way, Shimmer is uncertainty, something unknown that causes fear and attraction. Therefore, the behavior that emerges is twofold, that of exploring and investigating and that of being prepared for the worst. Hence the incursions of the military and, of course, of researchers.

Research in Annihilation

As we’ve seen,  the unknown requires investigation, both out of fear and attraction. The role of the five women who enter the Shimmer is that of researchers. If we look at the expertise of each, we will see they are trying to understand Shimmer to the fullest, in all its forms. They want to study what is Shimmer as much as what is in Shimmer. Will they make it? To find out, you have to see the end of the movie.

The niquilação , among many other things, puts us in a situation of uncertainty. The film confronts us with the awakening of the unknown and, at the same time, with fear and curiosity. Consequently, we recommend following the film aware of this metaphor and, of course, being surprised by the discoveries made by this team of researchers.