If you are interested in the IT industry, cinema can be a source of deeper understanding of modern technologies. Besides, sometimes it's good to relax. Therefore, today we will talk about 11 feature films that pose interesting questions to the audience about the digital world and raise global issues.
But it is worth remembering that this is an artistic product. It is not created by programmers for programmers, so finding a good feed that 100% reflects the work of IT specialists is practically impossible. When watching feature films, you should always take into account the factor of fiction and conjecture, enjoy the filming and acting of the actors, immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the technologies of the future... But definitely do not learn programming. We make tea, make sandwiches - and rest.
We decided not to put in the selection the most obvious works, such as "The Matrix" or "Black Mirror" - you have already heard about them many times. Below we will consider interesting and exciting films about the latest technologies, which you probably haven't seen yet.
Who Am I — Kein System ist sicher / Who Am I — Kein System ist sicher (Germany, 2014)
If you like hacker movies, this is one of the best. A dynamic tape that combines a number of genres — thriller, crime, detective, drama. It tells the story of the life of the hacker Benjamin, an inconspicuous complex guy, whom no one cared about. He dreamed of becoming a superhero - and became one, but not in the real world, but in cyberspace. Having joined a gang of hackers, the boy commits brazen cybercrimes of the highest level of complexity and becomes one of the most wanted criminals in the country.
You will love the visualization of the chat room (the subway car) and the darknet (the den) - they are shown as a physical space in which people communicate, opening doors with real password keys.
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She / Her (USA 2013)
When you're a reclusive writer with a failing personal life, a self-learning operating system can become your best friend. And not just a friend...
It is both a fantasy and a melodrama, in which the main character (played by Phoenix Joaquin) starts an affair with an OS named Samantha. This relationship does not begin because Theodore is not interested in other women. On the contrary, he gives up living partners in favor of love with a computer, because the operating system can give him a sense of emotional closeness, which he does not feel in the world of people.
Beautiful filming, Joaquin's unparalleled performance and philosophical reflections on the loneliness of a person in modern society - all this makes the film worth watching.
Pirates of Silicon Valley / Pirates of Silicon Valley (USA, 1999)
Atmospheric feature film based on real events. The plot unfolds in 1970-1985 and is connected with two key players in the world of technology — Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The picture depicts the era when the first personal computers and systems before them were born.
Moviegoers evaluate it ambiguously due to the fact that there are deviations from real facts in the plot, the real biographies of the prototypes are not fully revealed. But if you do not perceive it as a source of super-accurate information, then the tape very well conveys the spirit of the times and the main vicissitudes of the development of two global giants — Apple and Microsoft.
The one that leaves no trace / Untraceable (USA, 2008)
A brutal thriller in which a killer tortures and kills his victims live. The broadcast is conducted from the site, and the number of viewers affects the time of death - the more traffic the site has, the faster the victim dies. At the same time, everyone who watches the stream automatically becomes an accomplice, because it accelerates the murder. And yet, with each session, the audience grows more and more - they are not enough of horror films with computer blood, they want to see real death.
Fun fact - the site the killer used actually existed - it was created as part of a marketing campaign to promote the film. This site's domain is currently being sold for $4,900.
Ghost in the Shell (USA, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, 2017)
This sci-fi action movie has been compared to The Matrix because it also recreates a world where everything is governed by digital technology and reality is not what it seems. This is a spectacular bright movie with a dynamic plot.
The main character of the plot, Major (Scarlett Johansson), is a cyborg who works in the department for combating criminals and extremists. She has a synthetic body, artificial memories, but her soul remembers her true past.
The film is based on the 1995 anime of the same name, but tells a different story. Some scenes from the cartoon are reproduced in the film, but rather as echoes, which have a completely different meaning. Fans of the anime say that the original source material is deeper and better than the new film. Therefore, it makes sense to watch both videos as separate works.
The Net (USA, 1995)
This thriller tells the story of Angela, a programmer whose life is completely digitized. All data about her are stored on the network, they are not found anywhere else. Therefore, when she encounters a group of hackers, they create a new personality for her and a lot of problems. According to new data, she is a criminal wanted by law enforcement agencies. Now the character of the charismatic Sandra Bullock has to restore her identity and return to her usual life on her own.
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The film is old, the IT technologies depicted in it have long been outdated, but it is still valuable due to the philosophical theme it raises. Can you be sure of the safety of your personal data if all of them are stored on the server ? Can someone destroy a person's life just by changing information on the web? Nowadays, this issue is even more relevant.
And while fans are waiting for a remake, where the latest technologies will meet modern times, you can watch the 1995 tape.
Simona / S1m0ne (USA, 2002)
Fantastic drama and comedy at the same time dedicated to the world of cinema. And of course, technologies. When a famous actress refuses to act in a film, she is replaced by a digital girl Simona. The idea is so successful that the audience accepts Simona as real.
In 2002, when the film was made, such a story seemed fantastic, but now, when you can easily make a high-quality deepfake, the existence of virtual actors can become a new milestone in cinema. How "alive" will such creations be, will they be adored in the same way, and will the creators be remembered?
Additional highlights of the film are Al Pacino and Winona Ryder in the cast, atmospheric music and good humor.
Upgrade (Australia, USA, 2018)
A fantastic thriller with a simple plot, but made beautifully and dynamically. In the future, the world is becoming very technological — drones, robots, autopilots are everywhere. Only the main character does not really trust digitalization and continues to live in the world of mechanics, repairing old cars with his own hands.
One day, Gray and his wife get into an accident, after which they are attacked by a gang of criminals. The woman dies, and the man becomes completely paralyzed and helpless, lonely and desperate. The offer of one of the clients seems to be a second chance at life - he is implanted with a chip with artificial intelligence that completely controls the body. Gray becomes much stronger and more agile, but the artificial intelligence has its master and obeys only him.
How to defeat the technology that controls your own body? To what extent can you trust and should you give control over your life to innovation?
Interns / The Internship (USA, 2013)
Don't want to watch a thriller? Then here's a comedy for you. Two employees of a company that manufactures wristwatches suddenly find out that they no longer have a job. The owner of the enterprise closed it, because the clocks are yesterday, everyone checks the time on their phones.
In search of a new job, friends get an internship at Google. They are both in their forties, but all the other candidates are young people who know how to use technology. The heroes are forced to work in an underdog team, create concepts and combine the worldviews of two completely different generations.
One downside that viewers have pointed out is that it feels like the movie was paid for by a corporation and is designed to improve Google's image. The company's office is faithfully and vividly recreated, and practically all Google products that existed at that time are shown in the tape. Some people are annoyed by the "film-advertisement", but if you don't pay attention to this nuance, then you will get a classic American comedy about losers who have to prove to the world and themselves that they are worth something.
Mr. Robot / Mr. Robot (2015-2019)
Now before us is not a movie, but a whole series about a talented sociopath programmer who suffers from a split personality. During the day, he works in the cyber security system, and at night he turns into a hacker.
The rating of the series is high due to the fact that the series is made in a high-quality, non-banal way, it is really interesting to watch. Reviews of specialists in the IT sphere say that the industry is reproduced rather superficially, but still does not contradict the real state of affairs. Sometimes you may hear the terms " DDoS attacks ", "rootkit" or "DNS", but you will not learn anything significant about the mechanisms of the hack. Maybe it's for the best.
Connoisseurs note a "good picture" based on the performance of the actors and excellent cinematography, the courage of the director and the unpredictability of plot twists. This is a sharp and topical series, which has many reflections on modern society, loneliness and the social component of technical development.
Disconnect (2012)
An emotional, deep and sad film about a film about communication on the Internet. In today's society, we lose touch with our own family and look for interlocutors online. It often happens that a person you have never seen becomes closer than a child sleeping behind the wall in the next room. Does the network solve communication problems, or on the contrary, deepen them? And how many close friends do you have that you only know on Facebook? Is it possible to fall in love on the Internet?
Some viewers may accuse the film of excessive didacticism... But what can you do, the moral here is really obvious, and the issue has been raised more than once. The conflict between children and parents, online security, Internet fraudsters, bullying... Still, the filmmakers managed to put these ideas in an extraordinary way, clothe them in the clothes of emotionality and psychology, assemble an excellent cast and spice it all up with high-quality soundtracks. The film has high ratings from the audience.
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We used audience ratings and tried to be objective so that the selected tapes were interesting to the widest possible audience. Perhaps you will deny some of our positions and say that there are better films that should be put in the TOP. And this will also be correct, because everyone has their own tastes and preferences. We hope that these films will fill your evenings with new emotions and impressions, help you to dive deeper into digital worlds and simply bring pleasure.
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