Overview
The Darkest Minds is an American dystopian science fiction film released in 2018. It was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who did it in her live-action film debut. The film’s screenplay was adapted by Chad Hodge from the Bracken’s 2012 young adult novel The Darkest Minds. The film is set in a grim post-apocalyptic world in the near-future United States. There is a catastrophic illness that has decimated the population of younger children, and the few that remain develop deadly abilities. This causes terror, government lockdowns, and insurrections.
Like the wave of young adult dystopian films that preceded it such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner, The Darkest Minds tries to blend sci-fi action with teenage romance. It attempts to approach loss, identity, power, and resistance, and even though it did not receive the same commercial or critical acclaim as its peers, this film offers a deeply charged story that centers around a nuanced emotional struggle.
Plot Summary
The USA is battling an epidemic known as IAAN (Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration). This epidemic is extremely life-threatening, wiping out an astonishing 98% of children below 20 years. The 2% who survive are left with supernatural abilities. The survivors’ potential threat to the world leads to the government placing them in internment camps and categorizing them by the severity of their powers:
Green – enhanced intelligence
Blue – telekinesis
Yellow – electricity manipulation
Orange – mind control
Red – pyrokinesis
The protagonist Ruby Daly played by Amandla Stenberg is a 16-year-old girl who realizes that she is an Orange, meaning one of the deadliest types. After rubbing herself out of her parent’s memory, Ruby is sent to a recovery camp, run by the government. She has no other choice but to utilize her powers to make the authorities view her as a Green in order to make it out alive.
In the year that ensues, Ruby continues to conceal her abilities until she comes across a doctor named Cate Connor voiced by Mandy Moore, who is part of an underground group called the Children’s League. Cate helps Ruby break free from the confines of the camp, though Ruby becomes increasingly suspicious of the League’s methods. She escapes and joins her own small band of young runaways: a Blue with telekinetic powers and the group’s leader Liam Harris Dickinson, a Green with high intelligence named Chubs Skylan Brooks, and a mute Yellow who can control electricity, Zu Miya Cech.
As a unit, the group attempts to search for a mythical safe haven for powered children called East River. However, East River is ruled by another Orange, Clancy Gray the Patrick Gibson, son of the U.S. president. Clancy gives the illusion that he is quite protective of their kind, but Ruby learns the crafty and charming boy has much darker motives—Camouflage Mind Control. Exploiing his powers of persuasion, he seeks to control others and use their children to achieve their selfish ends.
Ruby faces Clancy, grappling with the dangerous consequences of leadership. Seeking a resolution, Ruby uses her powers against Clancy, then calls Cate to rescue her friends. To keep them safe, she wipes Liam’s memories of her, though doing so weakens their bond. The film culminates with Ruby settling into the Children’s League, vowing to fight for justice and reclaim a world that has cast her kind aside.
Main Cast and Characters
Amandla Stenberg as Ruby Daly
Her performance contains an inherent vulnerability driven by determination. Stenberg’s anchoring portrayal of Ruby places her at the nexus of a young girl who is self destructive, self loathing and eventually leads herself into self acceptance. The culmination of her arc balances adolescent pain and empowerment and serves compellingly to the narrative.
Harris Dickinson as Liam Stewart
Liam is caring and compels strength. He fights for peace and freedom. Their romance becomes another layer of warmth and heartbreak woven into the film. His performance is earnest yet deeply, heartbreakingly felt, revealing the emotional core of the film.
Skylan Brooks as Chubs
Intelligence, skepticism, and loyalty come together under Chubs. Brooks sustains the group’s inventiveness and insightful humor from which they draw tremendous heart and soul.
Miya Cech as Zu
Zu is a wordless but powerful character. Her bond with the others, especially Ruby, gives the narrative further emotional layers.
Patrick Gibson as Clancy Gray
As the Grinning Villain, Gibson portrays Clancy’s unnerving blend of charm and menace. His ruthless manipulation stands out as a jarring counterpoint to the other characters’ authentic warmth.
Mandy Moore as Dr. Cate Connor
Moore portrays a compassionate side of Cate, one of the uniquely understanding adults caring for the children, even though she is part of a complicating resistance group.
Themes and Symbolism
Fear of the Other
The underlying theme of The Darkest Minds is a society’s fear of people deemed different. The children’s magical powers are considered to be dangerous instead of gifts, much like how discrimination, marginalization, and dehumanization of youth during crises happen in the real world.
Coming of Age
This story is of Ruby’s evolution from feeling powerless to gaining a sense of control over herself. Her grappling journey of self-identity and self-acceptance of her powers serves as an appropriate metaphor for coming-of-age that most youths will appreciate.
Memory and Loss
Memory is quite crucial, especially for Ruby. She erases herself from the lives of her parents and later removes all of Liam’s memories to save him. These moments illustrate how identity, love, and trauma shape a person intertwined with sacrifice.
Rebellion and Resistance
The film highlights the need to fight against oppression. Ruby and her friends, though young, form a resistance against a society that fears and tries to push them down. The film is optimistic and calls for activism in the face of authoritarianism.
Visual Style and Direction
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who has previously worked on animated feature Kung Fu Panda 2, makes her mark as a live action director. Nelson retains the film’s rich, cinematic look with careful color coding for each power category, further aiding world-building. The action is smooth but restrained. While the breathing spaces are emotionally charged, the more intimate moments do need some restrictions.
Military camps, abandoned buildings, and desolate highways showcase the dystopian landscapes. Juxtaposed with these are intimate moments filled with humanity and connection. The film’s core contrast is visualized in its language – a dying world with the extinguishing glow of youth.
Reception and Legacy
The reviews for The Darkest Minds are divisive. Most critics applauded the film’s themes and Amandla Stenberg’s performance, but many found the film too formulaic in its approach to YA dystopian cinema. It is often regarded as a belated attempt to join a bandwagon that had already been established with series like The Hunger Games and Divergent. The film did not perform well at the box office, which limited its chances for sequels, despite it being based on a popular book series.
Nonetheless, it found a niche audience among younger fans of the books, where it was praised for its representational casting and character interactions. Its focus on social issues and youth activism is still relevant today.
Conclusion
The Darkest Minds is a visually striking dystopia drama that dives deep into the emotions attached to what happens when a society turns against its youth. While the story walks on practiced paths, the journey taken by the characters, especially Ruby, who embarks on a tale of defiance, self-discovery, and reminiscence, injects life into the story. It serves as a story of the youth being told that their greatest threats—and strengths—are not only in what they are but instead in how they decide to fight to become who they want to be.
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