vigilant citizen snowpiercer edited

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Snowpiercer is a movie about a "rescue train" that travels around the world, which was destroyed through a climate experiment and became hostile to any life on its surface.

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

At the beginning of the movie we get the message that planet Earth has been destroyed via spraying of a "cure" called CW-7. This "cure" was meant to save humanity from a global warming. This resembles chemtrails, about which we have heard quite a lot the last few years, and which have been spotted by many people in US and Europe as well. So the story in general could be about where mankind ended up after destroying its own planet, but as we get to know later from the story and as the structure of train shows us, the movie is more about where the human kind is right now, rather than where we might end up if the crazy advocates of global warming keep on pushing their agendas.

Even a not very bright viewer will probably quickly realise that the train represents the world and the hierarchy of
classes, i.e. the elite at the front of the train and the poor at the tail end. But there are many details, either within single wagons, or among the characters which tell us more than just this simple message. Therefore I'd conduct my analysis on two different levels, analysing single wagons and then single characters and of course their role within the train.

Before jumping inside the train at the beginning of the movie there's a view from a frozen car. The camera
focuses on a pendant hanging from the mirror with words written on it "Save the world", which reminds me a lot of the tree of life from Ka bbala. Maybe it's just a coincidence, have a look for yourself.

As already said, at the tail of the train we find the poor. Among the poor there are 2 important characters. First is Curtis (Chris Evans), second is Gilliam (John Hurt.) So let's start with these two guys.

Curtis (Chris Evans) is a young man with an ambition to lead another revolt against the oppressors from the front sections and step by step make his way through the train to the first wagon. In the real world he could be considered a revolutionary and as we know in the real world there's no revolution that can't be controlled. Later we find out that the same holds true in Snowpiercer. He wants to get in the front of the train and control the engine. As he says "We control the engine, we control the world. All past revolutions failed because they didn't control the engine." He's pretty much fast forward, he doesn't care that much about what's wrong with the system rather than how to get control over the system. He wants to be in charge, eventhough he's not willing to admit it on several occasions.
His way through the train represents his transformation and he's willing to do many things in order to get in the front. He doesn't have a problem using violence to get what he wants and he goes as far as sacrificing his own friend Edgar "for a greater good" when he needs to make a choice whether to proceed further within the train, or loose such opportunity.

He was chosen for a purpose. He possesses the ability to lead people. People look up to him, or better said they blindly follow him and die for him. First Edgar his friend then Gilliam his mentor and many other people from the tail section. He wasn't always such a "philanthrope", as explained later in the movie, he used to be very violent and cruel. His transformation in the past, when he used to ate his inmates to the guy he is right now might resemble mind control, but that would be just a speculation from my side. In the real world he could be considered as one of those dumb, mocked revolutionaries used for a higher purpose. History has seen many such figures who started with a good cause and ended up in a bloodshed, steered the way the elite wanted. Unfortunately because of the forest they couldn't see the trees. People always see a chance in all those little revolutions, so they blindly follow, but in the end they often end up in something lot worse.

Gilliam (John Hurt) is an older guy "standing behind" Curtis. Giving him advices and encouraging him, but only as far as is necessary, since when Curtis expresses his idea to hit the front of the train, Gilliam's kind of surprised/scared mainly due to the fact that he should steer Curtis to a certain level and then the revolution should be suppressed like always. Sounds familiar, right? Gilliam is more than just a slave from the last wagon, he's the one in touch with the front, with Mr. Wilford. In the real world he would represent the controlled opposition. He takes care that nothing gets out of control in the tail section. He creates revolutionaries like Curtis and controls them. In a conversation with Curtis, Curtis says "I'm not what you consider me to be" and Gilliam replys "Few of us really are" or "I'm a shadow of my former shadow." He was there at the beginning of the whole idea with the train. More or less equal with Mr. Wilford, but he chose to stay in dirt in the last wagon as a professional revolutionary. In a certain way he reminds me of Trotsky, even the way he looks (rounded glasses, beard.) Trotsky as well had a different idea of where the revolution should lead (not in a good way) and eventually ended up in exile. Later he was murdered.

Gilliam as well in a certain moment becomes useless and is killed without a blink of an eye. Everybody's dispensable. Everything for the system, causalties are acceptable no matter the former importance of the person.

Minister Mason (Tilda Swinton)
Already by her name we get the idea whom this lady represents. Mason the freemason. She's the prolonged hand of Mr. Wilford, but in a different way than Gilliam. After the disobedience of one of the passengers from the tail section she holds a speech which pretty much explains everything. "We must occupy our positions." Metaphorically comparing people to clothes saying "I am a hat you are shoe" in other words "I belong to the front (top of the pyramid) and you belong to the tail (bottom of the pyramid)." "Order is prescribed by the sacred engine (NWO) all things come from the sacred engine. Water, heat… everything."

In other words we switch off the engine and you die. We take care of you, so shut up and do what you're told. "When a shoe replaces position of the hat a sacred line is crossed. Things are meant to be like this and not the other way. Know your place, keep your place BE a SHOE" On her hand we can see a ring with a sign of the Wilford company "W" which is reminiscent of the Freemason sign of the compass and a ruler. It gives us an idea who's responsible for keeping things in place for the divine Mr. Wilford. In the real world she whould represent secret societies which hold control of the most important areas within society. It is important to notice with whom she came to explain things to the last wagon. "Suits and ties" on her left and "muscles" on her right i.e. the politics or the byrocratic apparatus, intelligence agencies and armed forces. And in the middle stands she the prolonged hand of Mr. Wilford who gives orders to all these bodies. While having here speech she makes a strange move with her hand. As we find out at the end of the movie in Mr. Wilford's first wagon there's a small chamber where only a small child fits. This child is a replacement of a former mechanical part of the engine which got broken. This part (now a child) is removing waste produced by the engine. Mrs. Mason obviously used to, in her childhood, execute this position. This would be too much for anybody, such traumatic experience would break anybody and I would link it to mind control. Minister Mason is fanatically dedicated to her job despite of what she experienced when she was a child. Programmed and blind to anything around her. If we'd admit the option of mind control in case of Curtis, where as I mentioned above it's maybe not so obvious and the mind control process of Mason where it's more than obvios these two characters are very similar in a certain way. They stand on different sides, but are blindly willing to follow their cause no matter the casualties. They are both able to think only within the system, never outside the box. They are the thesis and antithesis, the constant conflict which needs to be sustained.

Mr. Wilfrod (Ed Harris)
is the guy in the first wagon running the whole show and in the real world he would probably represent the elite. In the educational wagon (we get to that later) we get a glimpse from his life before the catastrophy, before the train. Even in the world before the catastrophy Mr. Wilford wasn't a poor guy. As we can see in the video in the educational wagon about him, as a child he probably grew up in a wealthy family (there are some housemaids around him in the video.) What is more interesting is how and why Mr. Wilford came to the idea to create this kind of train. Mr. Wilford KNEW something that others didn't and it was that everybody's gonna freeze to death! That resembles something right? Create a war and then come as a peacemaker, create a disease and come with a cure, create financial crisis and come with a solution… CREATE chaos and come with ORDER.

As Minister Mason says in her speech Mr. Wilford is a divine keeper of the sacred engine. It is important to notice usage of the word DIVINE. She perceives him as a god, after all he's probably her handler. Again there's not much difference from the real world elite since they thing they are (and perhaps they are) running this world. They see themselves as gods too, or they're at least pursuing the goal to become one. Mr. Wilford is completely detached from the last wagons. Even when Minister Mason wants to switch on the radio so that Mr. Wilford can speak to the losers from the tail section, nobody's there, no voice. Some like Gilliam (those enlightened) know he exists for others it's a mystical person. Does he exist or doesn't he? Is he a god? It's like us asking in the real world who's running this show? We know it's done by many means (secret societies for instance) and we know it's not the last line, so who's behind it? He doesn't mind that there's a revolt, because every revolt is kind of a population reduction "Individual units killing other individual units." When it's not solved by such things as artificially created revolutions he takes it in his hands and applies "rather drastical solutions." Unless people don't endanger the train (the system) he doesn't worry. He's not afraid of Curtis, because he doesn't represent opposition to the train. He sees him more as his successor. He was carefully chosen by him and Gilliam. He represents both the front and the tail. He arose from the tail in order to lead the front. No matter what's going on in single sections while the train is ok everything is ok. "We need to have certain level of insanity. Create fear and horror." Like in the real world you create fear and horror and people turn to the system asking for help, protection, measures. He's only interested in the engine. He's worshipping a false deity, he's worshiping a machine. "The train is the world, we are the humanity." Getting back to the chamber for kids, these are his sacrifices to the engine. Minister Mason comes to the tail section, from time to time, to steal kids. We see that in the real world as well, abuse and child sacrifice all for the ancient deity.

Namgoung Minsoo (Kang-ho Song)
I kept this guy for last because he and his daughter are in my opinion the most important characters, eventhoug they don't get as much space within the movie like others. Namgoung is a security expert and as such he knows many things about the train, like for instance opening doors between the wagons and helping Curtis to progress within the train. Since he knows a lot about the train he knows it's not worth fighting the system, or better said fighting for a better position within the train. Instead he's waiting for his right moment. He knows that the answer is outside the train not within, therefore he's more interested in the world behind the windows. First time we meet him and his daughter is after Curtis sets him free from kind of a prison. In the real world he could be considered as a political prisoner. You know too much they lock you up. His daughter Yona is a clairvoyant and Namgoung is trying to keep her from what's happening in the train like if it would be a disease and he wouldn't want her to poison her mind, because that's exactly what the people on the train are no matter in which wagon… poisonminded. His intention is to get out of the train instead of wasting time inside.
The Train

Basic structure of the train would be: first class, economy and "freeloaders" in the tail section. Let's go to a more detailed analysis of single wagons. As the revolt starts Curtis and his mates manage to disarm the guards, who as they find out don't even have real bullets in their rifles. Before the tail section there are two, or three wagons where the guards are. After these wagons there's something what could be called a prison wagon where Curtis sets free Namgoung Minsoo who as a former mechanic/engineer helps him open further door. From here we get to the food section No. 1.

Food section No. 1
The only food which the tail section got where kind of protein blocks, which look like a dark jelly. In the food production section Curtis finds out that these food bricks are pure crap. To be more specific it's crushed, mixed insects. Like in the real world it's important to control the food supply, or better said to supply people with junk food. Because when you manage to poison the physique you're on a good way to poison the mind as well. Of course as we find out further on the way there's another wagon dedicated to food production, but of a different kind. More suitable for the elite.

From the food section we get to a wagon, which I'd call a special units section.

Special units section
In this part of the train we find man dressed like special ops teams who find interest in killing and torture. In the real world would these guys represent the special ops team, mercenaries or killing squads. These guys work for any system. In the train they have black masks covering their eyes, which could mean they're blind to justice and system for which they work. They just find pleasure in torture (as shown by the fish which they cut before the fight starts) and in the money. In this particular wagon it coincidently happens that the train is crossing one bridge (I think it's somewhere in Russia) and everybody knows that it happens once an year, so everybody starts screaming Happy new year. At he same time on the bridge are frozen parts which are hard to get through and could derail the whole train. It's like if people when there's danger or crisis endangering all of us would for a moment realise that we are one species sharing the same faith and in that moment everybody stops fighting. But it lasts only a very short moment and subsequently everything gets back to "normal."

Rebels manage to capture the General and he starts to scream "surrender or they'll kill me…" But cold hearted Mrs. Mason doesn't give a damn about it. That clearly like in the real world shows how disepnsable everybody is no matter his/her position. Immediately after this scene Curtis has an option to kill Mrs. Mason, but at the same time his friend Edgar is hold by one of the enemies and can be (and will be) killed. Curtis is for "greater good" willing to sacrifice Edgare, which makes him again no different from Mrs. Mason. The goal justifies the means.

Food section No. 2 consists of fruits and vegetables wagon and meat wagon
All these wagons with the fine food are of course meant for the front part of the train. Interesting in this section is a speach which Mrs. Mason holds to Curtis talking about sustainable balance within the ecological system of these wagons. At the same time the camera turns to the window where outside we see the destroyed world as a result of human activity. You kind of get the idea that the same person who's giving you lectures about sustainable balance is at the same time responsible for the whole catastrophy sorrounding us. It's like in the world when the elite screws it on large scale the burden is mostly put on the shoulders of ordinary people.

Educational wagon
As we enter the educational wagon we see kids wearing different masks like lion, sun, moon and one of the kids is wearing a mask of the Pope (yeah right, the Pope.) These represent different fields a proper school should cover, religion (the right one of course) among them as well. Kids start to sing a song with a fanatic expression in their faces about Mr. Wilford which is pretty much an adoration of the train/the system and how it is forever. Children move to the window where the teacher shows them frozen bodies of 7 people and tells them a story about the "Revolt of 7!" So first thing the kids learn is to never doubt/question the system and subsequently you get an example from the history that when you do so you'll die! That's a nice indoctrination since the young age for your proper controlled behavior in the future. As Orwell said "He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past."

Accommodation wagons or services wagons
In these wagons we see luxurious compartments with people who look like nobility and all the extra services they get like special medical care, tailor made suits, bar, hairdresser, pools, sauna. That's the high society, which has no clue about what's going on in the tail section, they probably don't even know there is something like a tail section. As long as they have their comfort and their services everything is fine. No need to say how it is in the real world.

Party wagons
Some of the last wagons before Mr. Wilfords wagon are full of young people getting drunk and high on drugs (Kronol.) As in the train, so in the real world these people seem like they have no idea what they're part of and what is worse they don't really care. That's probably not the generation that could save the world. Like the nobility in the previous wagons as long as they have their fun and substances to feel good there's no need to worry. This wagon would in my opinion represent the entertainment industry. In both cases i.e. the high luxury wagons and entertainment wagons it's about distraction. Distraction by things in your life that keep you from independent thinking. Physical lust replacing spiritual development.

Conclusion
From an amusing perspective Snowpiercer could be kind of a guide book how to run a society, a pretty sick society. At the same it is a mirror to the society we live in and that's not so entertaining anymore. We can agree that it's not just an apocalyptic action sci-fi movie. We have the revolutions and staged events, the leaders who arise from such events. We have guys standing behind the curtain who control things. We have the dumb flock (on both sides of the train) that follows. We see different fields which need to be controlled in order to control the society. Food, education, security, entertainment… On the other hand we have the message that the real world is out there, everything created within the train is artificial. If we want to escape we need to start thinking outside the box. It's difficult after centuries of life inside the train we're all passengers in, but mankind can/could develop into something completely different than what we see inside the train/our world.