2073 Film Review: Urgent & Unique

Asif Kapadia’s 2073 mixes the documentary and science fiction genres to create a new and innovative media product.

2073 starts in the titular year, when the world has taken a dystopian and science fiction-like turn. Ghost (Samantha Morton) lives underground in New San Francisco, the capital of the Americas, hiding from a dictatorial government controlled by libertarians who leave no space for freedom or disagreement. Through modern technologies, everyone is monitored at every given moment and those who are deemed suspicious conveniently disappear. As the protagonist herself remarks, this seems to come straight from a sci-fi comic and yet, as the documentary invites us to look back at our contemporary era, we realise our current reality is a lot closer to this dystopia than we may want to admit.

The scope of the documentary is massive. From the rise of fascism and heightened security measures to the climate crisis and police brutality, there is nothing that 2073 leaves behind or forgets to touch on. While this also means that the film cannot touch on every single one of these issues in much detail, I appreciated the fact that it chose to broaden its scope in such a way to connect all the issues our modern society is facing in argument and timeline.

Similarly, 2073 also divides its attention between different countries and time periods: London in 2016, India in 2002, and China in 1997 are just three of the examples the documentary portrays. In doing so, the film makes us understand that none of this is a singular isolated example, but instead, a dangerous trend that is becoming more and more evident in recent times.

While you may not necessarily agree with the framework and interpretation of current events provided in the film – admittedly, the documentary only shares this one outlook while presenting the facts it is based on – 2073 provides an insightful look into our reality. By combining interviews with investigative journalists, reports from experts, and speeches of some of the most well-known far-right leaders in the world, the documentary gives us an angle through which we can attempt to interpret and make sense of the current events happening around us by including a lot of the contemporary concerns and debates in this film.

Visually, the documentary also makes some interesting choices. I really liked how 2073 incorporates social media into the discussion both thematically and in terms of style. In fact, the film analyses how social media has become a public sphere controlled by a small rich majority and a virtual space that collects a lot of personal data that can influence the outcome of national elections. In doing so, it also includes snippets of various social media, mainly hate speech tweets and election campaign ads, as part of the documentary.

More broadly, 2073 opts for a visual aesthetic that is not so dissimilar from the media that it critiques. This proves successful as the way the information is conveyed will be accessible to a wider audience, the same one that is targeted by the powers that we see at play in the documentary. In terms of documentary techniques, the film mixes traditional ones, such as talking-heads interviews or found footage in the form of newscasts and speeches, with more innovative ones by including photographs and social media content. And, of course, the most unique element of all is the science-fiction story. This part is entirely fictional and would, therefore, normally not have a place in such a documentary, but in a film that breaks conventions and innovates the documentary genre, everything eventually falls into place.

Including the sci-fi fictional plotline may be risky in a documentary, but it is also incredibly necessary to the purposes of 2073, as it paints a picture of a dystopian future that does not look too far from our current reality. The genres also mix together surprisingly well, as the beginning intertitles prove, because the two segments inform each other in a meaningful way. Some of it may seem too information-based and overly explained, but that does not change the fact that it is still a needed and necessary documentary. Through its many themes and focuses, the film is united by the constant need to give the audience a warning before it’s too late.

Overall, 2073 may be a bit messy at times, which is almost a given considering the massive subject matter that the documentary analyses, but is nonetheless an incredibly powerful and needed documentary. Its commentary is not only portrayed in a very unique way, but it is also very urgent, as the film itself underlines, in a day and age when right-wing governments are on the rise and the world as we know it may very well be changing in front of our eyes. 

2073 had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on August 3, 2024. The film will be released in select US theaters By Neon on December 27, 2024 and in in UK & Irish cinemas by Altitude on January 1, 2025.