12 Monkeys

Terry Gilliams 12 Monkeys (1995) was a commercial and critical success, but it is Gilliams least understood film, even on the basic plot level. Aside from recognizable debts to specific films such as La Jete (1962) and Dr. Strangelove (1964), 12 Monkeys plays with a number of genres: apocalypse and postapocalypse movies, sci-fi, nuclear noir, and what is becoming known as geek dystopia. This volume in the Constellations series examines Gilliams filmand briefly the TV series based on itin the context of post-apocalypse movies and with an eye to the films major themes, including mental illness, conspiracy theories, the impossibility of human closeness, and the nature of reality. It is the first to read 12 Monkeyss portrayal of time travel in light of Einsteins ideas about time and to ask what answers these ideas suggest to the films most basic philosophical predicament: the problem of free will versus determinism.