In “the not-too-distant” future, where genetic engineering of humans is common and DNA plays the primary role in determining social class, Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is conceived and born without the aid of this technology. Suffering from the nearly eradicated physical dysfunctions of myopia and a congenital heart defect, as well as being given a life expectancy of 30.2 years, Vincent faces extreme genetic discrimination and prejudice. The only way he can achieve his life-long dream of becoming an astronaut is to break the law and impersonate a “valid”, a person with appropriate genetic advantage.[4]
He assumes the identity of Jerome Eugene Morrow (Jude Law), a former swimming star who, despite a genetic profile “second to none”, won only a silver medal in a high-profile competition. He then attempted to commit suicide by jumping in front of a car, but again fell short of his goal in that he only succeeded in paralyzing himself from the waist down. However, as the incident occurred outside the country, no one knows of his newly acquired disability. Thus, Vincent can “buy” his identity with no one the wiser. Though he requires orthopedic surgery to increase his height, persistant practice to favor his right hand instead of his left, and contact lenses to replace his glasses while matching Jerome’s eyes, he can use his “valid” DNA in blood, tissue and urine samples to pass any genetic test – as long as he takes extreme measures to leave no traces of his identity as an “in-valid”. But, where he was once an object of scorn and pity, he is now a perpetrator of an unspeakable fraud. Legally, exposure would only subject him to fines, but socially the consequences would be far more extreme – he is now a heretic against the new order of genetic determinism. Vincent is now a “borrowed ladder” (a reference to the ladder structure of an un-coiled DNA strand) or in harsher language, a de-gene-erate.
With Jerome’s impressive genetic profile he easily gains access to the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation (his interview consists entirely of a urine test), the most prestigious space-flight conglomerate of the day. With his own equally impressive determination, he quickly becomes the company’s ace celestial navigator. But a week before Vincent is scheduled to leave for Saturn’s moon Titan, the mission director is murdered, and evidence of Vincent’s own “in-valid” DNA is found in the building in the form of an eyelash. The presence of this unexpected DNA attracts the attention of the police, and Vincent must evade ever-increasing security as his mission launch date approaches and he pursues a relationship with his co-worker Irene Cassini (Uma Thurman).
After numerous close calls, the investigation eventually comes to a close as Director Josef (Gore Vidal) is arrested for the murder by the lead detective covering the investigation (Alan Arkin). The Director reveals that he murdered the mission director in order to buy time for the mission to launch, because the window of opportunity for the launch is only open once every seventy years, and that it is now too late to stop the launch. However, just as Vincent appears to be in the clear, he is confronted by one of the detectives, who is revealed as Vincent’s estranged brother, Anton (Loren Dean). Anton tries to convince Vincent to go with him for protection before Vincent is found out. However, it soon becomes apparent that Anton is acting more out of insecurity and is more concerned with how Vincent had managed to get the better of him, despite his supposed genetic superiority. Vincent and Anton settle their competition as they did when they were children, by seeing who could swim out into the ocean farthest. As he did once before when they were young, Vincent manages to beat his brother, and, once again, saves him from drowning. This is simply because he refused to save any strength to swim back – he is willing to risk everything to succeed. Conversely his brother worried about preserving enough strength to swim out and return again, and these fears kept him from testing his true limits.
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Gattaca – Memorable Lines