Dark City (1998)

It is interesting to track the lives of those who begin to discover the true nature of dark city.

Detective Wallenski discovers that the geography of dark city is circular and that neither he nor anyone else are who they think they are. However, he does not know why this is so and can only say it is a joke. The puzzle drives him to despair and his only escape is suicide.

Detective Bumstead has heard Wallenski's analysis and gradually comes to believe it by tracking down Murdoch and Schreber. He too literally gives his life to the investigation and in a final fight with one of the strangers is expelled from dark city, propelled into space, and from this vantage point sees the entire world as he drifts into the nothingness of space.

In this final confrontation Emma too comes to understand dark city's true nature, but is returned to her innocence the following day.

In the end only Murdoch and Schreber know the truth...

Director: Alex Proyas
Producers: Andrew Mason and Alex Proyas
Screenplay: Alex Proyas and Lem Dobbs and David S. Goyer
Cinematography: Dariusz Wolski
Music: Trevor Jones
U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema

United States, 1998
U.S. Release Date: 2/27/98 (wide)
Running Length: 1:43
MPAA Classification: R (Violence, nudity, profanity)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Murdoch: Rufus Sewell
Inspector Bumstead: William Hurt
Dr. Daniel Schreber: Kiefer Sutherland
Emma Murdoch: Jennifer Connelly
Mr. Hand: Richard O'Brien

A partial transcript...

Preceding Scene:

(Dr. Daniel Schreber tries to run away but is tripped to the ground by John Murcoch.)
Dr. Daniel Schreber:
I’ll tell you everything.  It doesn’t matter any more anyway…

1:23:53 – An Explanation:

(Timing marks in minutes and seconds.)

0:00

(Emma Murdoch enters the murder apartment.)

Emma Murdoch:

What!?  Who are you people?

(Dr. Daniel Schreber leads John Murdoch and Inspector Bumstead.)

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

We must go (to the) end of the canal.

Anonymous Stranger:

We will give you some more pretty things soon.  Anna?

Emma Murdoch:

I’m not Anna.

An anonymous Stranger:

You will be soon.  Yes?

Mr. Hand:

I have another use for her first.

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

0:30  I call them the strangers; they abducted us and brought us here.  This city, everyone in it, is their experiment.  They mix and match our memories as they see fit, trying to divine what makes us unique.  One day a man might be an inspector, the next, someone entirely different.  1:00  When they want to study a murder, for instance, they simply imprint one of their citizens with a new personality.  Arrange a family for him, friends, an entire history, even a lost wallet.  Then they observe the results.  Will a man, given the history of a killer, continue in that vein, or are we, in fact, more than the mere sum of our memories?  1:30  This business of you being a killer was an unhappy coincidence.  You have had dozens of lives before now. You just happened to wake up while I was imprinting you with this one.

Inspector Bumstead:

Why are they doing all this?

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

It is our capacity for individuality, our souls, that makes us different from them.  They think they can find the human soul if they understand how our memories work.  All they have are collective memories; they share one group mind.  2:00  They’re dying, you see.  Their entire race is on the brink of extinction.  They think we can save them.

John Murdoch:

Where do I fit in?

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

You are different, John.  You resisted my attempt to imprint you.  Somehow you have developed their ability to tune.  That is how they change things.  That is how they built this city.  They have machines buried deep beneath the surface that allow them to focus their telepathic energies.  2:30  They control everything here, even the sun, that’s why it’s always dark.  They can’t stand the light.

John Murdoch:

So why do they need you?

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

When they first brought us here they extracted what was in us, so they could store the information, remix it like so much paint, and give us back new memories of their choosing.  But they still needed an artist to help them.  I understood the intricacies of the human mind better than they ever could.  So they allowed me to keep my skills as a scientist because they needed them.  3:00  They made me delete everything else.  Can you image what it is like being forced to erase your own past?

John Murdoch:

What about my past? What about my childhood:  Shell Beach, Uncle Karl?  What about this?  (Waving his sketchbook.)  This was blank when I found it!

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

3:00  You still don’t understand, John.  You were never a boy.  Not in this place.  You entire history is an illusion, a fabrication as it is with all of us.  You made those drawings happen with your gift.

Inspector Bumstead:

You say they brought us here.  From where?

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

I’m sorry, I don’t remember.  None of us remember that:  what we once were… what we might have been… somewhere… else…  4:00

(much, much later)

Dr. Daniel Schreber:

5:00  There is no ocean, John.  There is nothing beyond this city.  The only place home exists is in your head…  5:30