I Am Legend

Wonderful acting from Will Smith, good computer animation, nonsensical plots, blatant product placements with a typical lame Hollywood ending.

The movie though, raised some interesting issues for me.

If you haven't seen the movie and enjoy surprises, you might want to hold off on reading further.

What is heroic and legendary could so easily be horrid and abominable. Will Smith's character became a legend, I suppose, because he had discovered the cure for the virus that caused humans to exhibit cruel and animalistic behaviors similar to those exhibited by animals infected by rabies. These were fearsome creatures in the movie; they are nocturnal and they hunt down animals including humans for food. The good doctor did so single mindedly for over 3 years as a lone survivor in NY, by conducting tests on mice and life subjects – infected humans. He traps the infected during the day when they are most vulnerable and bring them home while covering his track.

The infected humans seem to live and hunt in groups. His latest catch, appears to cause quite a reaction from the leader of the group – the creature showed his face to light and got burned. The doctor duly noted this event and concluded that this behavior is proof that the infected have completely lost their human instinct. I however, thought the risky behavior is proof of the creature's humanity because, he risked his life out of concern for someone he obviously cared for. In the process of isolation, I thought, it is he, the good doctor, who had lost his humanity – he traps and experiments on the infected, knowing that the results are often fatal. The lack of concern and remorse is so complete that he never reflected on what he was doing – he set out to find a cure, all he did was killing yet it did not perturb him.

It should come as no surprise that he would interpret the male creature's behavior as evidence of complete loss of humanity. How else could he have interpreted it? It's either thinking that the infected are completely devoid of any similarity to himself or to accept his own tendency and capacity for savage brutality.

Perhaps in the end, their resolute assault on him has less to do with barbaric cannibalism and more to do with vengeance – vengeance against one who slaughtered so senselessly their brethren.

The ease with which we make our choices in life are so often aided by the willful ignorance and complete disregard of other possibilities that are either inconvenient for us, or point directly to our own guilty participation or complacence. This movie is a perfect reminder of it.