what they got right (and what they didn’t)

The 2015 of Back to the Future 2 It’s been a while ago, yet we’ve still never taken a ride on ‘s hoverboard Marty McFly not seen Jaws 19 in 3D. Maybe it’s better this way, in some respects. It is also true that The Kingdom of Firecon Christian Baleis set in 2020. Many unusual events occurred in that year, but one thing is certain: no one fought dragons. And what about 2026? Some films from the past take place in the year that has just begun, so the question arises spontaneously: theirs vision of the future does it reflect the reality of our times? Excluding recent titles for obvious reasons, here it is three films set in 2026who imagined what our life would be like today. Is it a dark and apocalyptic future, or optimistic and cutting-edge? Above all, how far (or disturbingly close) is it from the world we live in today?

Doom di Andrzej Bartkowiak (2005)

Based on the popular series of the same name video games, Doom it showed nothing that came true. The discovery of the Ark, the key event that sets the story in motion, is set in 2026, but, to date, no ancient alien artifact has been found in the Nevada desert (or elsewhere), nor is there a portal to Mars hidden in the form of a wormhole. The vision of the future of the sci-fi thriller con Dwayne Johnson e Karl Urban is in line with the action science fiction of the early 2000s, more interested in adrenaline than in real scientific speculation. In the film there are the teleportationgenetic manipulation and rapid, uncontrollable progress: fantasies that perhaps have simply been postponed. Maybe, by 2046, teleportation will become a reality. Or, more likely, it isn’t.

Apes Revolution – Planet of the Apes by Matt Reeves (2014)

Rise of the Planet of the Apes it is set between 2008 and 2016. Reality, in those years, in this respect, was decidedly less cinematic. The same goes for Apes Revolution – Planet of the Apeswhich takes place about ten years after the events of the first film (therefore in our 2026): there is no trace of Caesars leading revolutions, nor of growling and vengeful Kobas. Yet, unlike other more imaginative futuristic scenarios, Rise of the Planet of the Apes he seems to have grasped something more subtle. At the center of the story there is not only the conflict between humans and apesbut the inability of two communities marked by trauma to find common ground. Mistrust and fear of others transform society into the true antagonist, much more than any virus. That’s why we believe that the film of Rupert Wyattrather than predicting the future, has been able to read the present.

Metropolis in Fritz Lang (1927)

That’s right: one of the most important masterpieces of history of cinemareleased 99 years ago, is set in 2026, i.e. 100 years later than when it was written. Metropolis Of Fritz Lang offers a lucid look at a future imagined almost a century in advance and, upon closer inspection, it has hit the mark more than we could imagine. The heart of the narrative is the irreparable fracture between an ultra-rich elite and an oppressed and dehumanized working class, relegated to the basement of society. A dynamic which, unfortunately, does not only belong to fantasy: it is an integral part of world we live in today and it doesn’t seem likely to improve at all. But Metropolis it’s not just a social complaint. It is also a warning about what would happen if we allowed one uncontrolled technological growth. Progress, in the film, becomes an instrument of oppression rather than emancipation and that is precisely the point. The future depends not only on how much technology advances, but on the responsibility we choose to assign to it.