Lydia and I just watched Cloud Atlas. I think I have my introduction as well.
Lydia ended the film in tears. Rightly so, the prospect of naked, hanging clones tossed to the grinder and fed back to their own kind is a terrifying, though very playable, concept. We finished the film in each other's arms, her in tears, I feeling the pain I caused her pain (again) and inwardly knowing she doesn't know the half of just how easy it is to look at social, filial, and gender structures as "Ordained" or "Providencial" or of "Heaven". And that's exactly what the film does, uses religious dressings, especially Eastern religion, to explore the ideas of freedom, relationship, and human connection. From this point, I'll identify Confucian, Christian, and Buddhist themes and motifs in the film and how they're used to narratively explore these themes, all framed by my Lydia's wet, horrified tears.