Bicentennial Man
Director: Chris Columbus
Cast: Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davits, Oliver Platt, Kiersten Warren, Wendy Crewson, Hallie Eisenberg
Bicentennial Man follows the life of Andrew Martin (Robin Williams), an android who is purchased as a household robot programmed to perform menial tasks. An innocent friendship is born between Andrew and the Martin’s youngest daughter, Little Miss (Embeth Davits), which leads to Andrew developing emotions like creativity, curiosity, and friendship; particularly with Sir (Sam Neill) and Little Miss. In a story that spans two centuries, and three generations, Andrew learns the intricacies of humanity.
Humanity is a powerful theme in this film and nowhere is humanity illustrated more deeply, than in the character of Andrew Martin, himself, and the journey that Andrew embarks on towards understanding the essence of his own humanity; that his two-hundred-year life span is as much a physical transformation, as it is an emotional journey.
When Andrew first arrives at the Martin family’s home, he is regarded as nothing more than a household appliance…a machine whose sole purpose is to cook and clean and take care of the family. Andrew’s first step towards his humanity comes when he is given his name by Little Miss - “Andrew Martin” – and he is also regarded as a man, rather than a mere machine. In the wake of Little Miss’s sister, Grace, attempting to break Andrew by throwing him out the window, Sir tells his family that Andrew is not a person…he is a form of property…but as a matter of principle, Andrew will now be given the same consideration and respect as a real person. Andrew’s first moment of real connection with Little Miss occurs after one of the child’s glass figurines is accidentally shattered when the children are playing on the beach. Wanting to make amends with the little girl, Andrew crafts a wooden figurine of a horse for Little Miss and leaves it on her pillow as a gift…an act which touches Little Miss’s heart and allows a unique friendship to be born between them. She helps Andrew work on his carvings, and even teaches him how to play the piano. Little Miss also becomes a voice for Andrew, as he becomes more human; particularly when Andrew wishes to open a bank account and earn his own money by selling his hand-crafted clocks. When Andrew confesses his desire to Little Miss, that he wishes to be declared free, she tells her father, Sir, that he gave Andrew the idea of being free, because he has given Andrew so many books to read and taught him so much regarding the intricate nature of humanity, that it was only a matter of time before Andrew became intrigued with the idea of freedom. And while Sir initially resents Andrew’s wish to be free, in the end, he is glad that Andrew found his freedom.
When Sir and his wife see the humble gift that Andrew made for Little Miss, Sir is extremely impressed with Andrew’s creative ingenuity, and he is even more impressed when Andrew expresses to him that he enjoys making his wooden carvings and listening to opera on the record player. When Sir takes Andrew to robotics company that created him and shows one of the company’s owners Andrew’s hand-carved figurines, rather than being impressed by Andrew’s unique gift and personality, he instead, refers to Andrew as “it” and wants to destroy Andrew’s uniqueness entirely. When he tells Sir and Andrew “This is a household appliance, and yet, you treat it as a man” Sir’s response to the gentleman, illustrates Andrew’s growing uniqueness perfectly. He tells the owner “Andrew is unique and irreplaceable. There is no price for individuality…he is for better or for worse, my robot and you will not lay your hands on him.” Sir also tells Andrew that he wants to encourage Andrew’s creativity, by having him craft homemade clocks and timepieces from the driftwood that he finds on the beach.
Andrew’s first acknowledgement of his individuality is illustrated when Andrew stops referring to himself as “One.” Initially, even when he is talking to Sir, or Little Miss, Andrew refers to himself as “One” …as he does after Little Miss’s wedding, when he comforts Sir by telling him “One is still here.” Andrew addresses himself properly for the first time, when he tells Sir, “Called, or uncalled, ‘I’ am always at your service” when Sir gives Andrew his freedom and asks him to leave. It is only when Andrew petitions to be declared human for the first time, and his petition is denied, and he is told that he will forever be regarded as a machine, that he momentarily reverts to calling himself “One” again. When Andrew leaves his life, in the end, as a free and acknowledged man, Portia asks their nurse, Galatea, to disconnect her from life support, so that she can be with Andrew, that we hear this phrase one last time, when Galatea says goodbye.
While Little Miss was Andrew’s confidante and friend, who taught him the internal essence of his identity, her granddaughter, Portia, befriends Andrew, and guides him through the very difficult journey to embracing the physical and emotional side of his humanity. Although he is an android, Andrew has formed strong emotional connections with Sir and Little Miss, considering them to be his family. When Andrew returns from his twenty-year search, after trying to find another robot, like himself, he is unnerved to discover that Little Miss is now a wizened old woman, and her granddaughter, Portia, now bears a strong resemblance to Little Miss. When Portia asks Andrew what it is he wants from her, Andrew’s answer is simple: he wants family. Sir is now dead, and Little Miss is getting old, and Andrew feels lost without these connections, and he is desperately trying to hold on to that family bond that he had with them, by connecting with Portia. Portia’s first moment of helping Andrew comes when Little Miss is on her death bed. Andrew sees her, one last time, and she is holding the carved horse figurine that Andrew gave her when she was a child…as if she were finding comfort, in her last moments, in holding onto this piece of her dear friend that entwines them. When Little Miss dies, Andrew laments to Portia, that it is cruel that she can cry over this loss when he cannot, because he has this deep pain at the loss of his dear friend, and he can’t express this pain, as she does, by crying.
Portia helps Andrew as he begins a new journey; one that he must take to understand this most beautiful and painful truth of humanity…that everyone we love will eventually die. It is Little Miss’s death, and Andrew’s fear of losing everyone he cares about to death, which compels Andrew to make his greatest transformation of all: becoming a man. While Andrew’s humanity is both a physical transformation and an emotional journey, and the organs that Andrew and Rupert create will allow life to be prolonged for humans, while ironically transforming Andrew from an immortal machine to a mortal and living man, making him human, at least in part, this illusion of humanity is not enough to truly cement and acknowledge the validity of Andrew’s humanity. For Andrew to complete his journey, he must be acknowledged as a human being and not a machine. When the World Chairman asks Andrew to explain his reason for why he wants to be declared a human being, Andrew tells her, “As a robot, I could have lived forever. But I tell you all today, I would rather die a man, than live for all eternity as a machine. To be acknowledged for who and what I am, no more, no less. Not for acclaim, not for approval, but the simple truth of that recognition. This has been the elemental drive of my existence, and it must be achieved, if I am to live or die with dignity. It was only at the very end of Andrew’s two-hundred-year life, that Andrew truly found his humanity, at last.
Bicentennial Man is a beautiful and heartfelt story, which explores the multiple facets of humanity through the eyes of Andrew, who is not human, himself. The casting for this film is stellar, particularly for Robin Williams who brings Andrew to life, both literally and emotionally, and Sam Neill, who becomes Andrew’s teacher, mentor, father, and friend, on his long journey achieving his dream of humanity. Overall, I would highly recommend this film.
© 2022 Keriane Kellogg
Director: Chris Columbus
Cast: Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davits, Oliver Platt, Kiersten Warren, Wendy Crewson, Hallie Eisenberg
Bicentennial Man follows the life of Andrew Martin (Robin Williams), an android who is purchased as a household robot programmed to perform menial tasks. An innocent friendship is born between Andrew and the Martin’s youngest daughter, Little Miss (Embeth Davits), which leads to Andrew developing emotions like creativity, curiosity, and friendship; particularly with Sir (Sam Neill) and Little Miss. In a story that spans two centuries, and three generations, Andrew learns the intricacies of humanity.
Humanity is a powerful theme in this film and nowhere is humanity illustrated more deeply, than in the character of Andrew Martin, himself, and the journey that Andrew embarks on towards understanding the essence of his own humanity; that his two-hundred-year life span is as much a physical transformation, as it is an emotional journey.
When Andrew first arrives at the Martin family’s home, he is regarded as nothing more than a household appliance…a machine whose sole purpose is to cook and clean and take care of the family. Andrew’s first step towards his humanity comes when he is given his name by Little Miss - “Andrew Martin” – and he is also regarded as a man, rather than a mere machine. In the wake of Little Miss’s sister, Grace, attempting to break Andrew by throwing him out the window, Sir tells his family that Andrew is not a person…he is a form of property…but as a matter of principle, Andrew will now be given the same consideration and respect as a real person. Andrew’s first moment of real connection with Little Miss occurs after one of the child’s glass figurines is accidentally shattered when the children are playing on the beach. Wanting to make amends with the little girl, Andrew crafts a wooden figurine of a horse for Little Miss and leaves it on her pillow as a gift…an act which touches Little Miss’s heart and allows a unique friendship to be born between them. She helps Andrew work on his carvings, and even teaches him how to play the piano. Little Miss also becomes a voice for Andrew, as he becomes more human; particularly when Andrew wishes to open a bank account and earn his own money by selling his hand-crafted clocks. When Andrew confesses his desire to Little Miss, that he wishes to be declared free, she tells her father, Sir, that he gave Andrew the idea of being free, because he has given Andrew so many books to read and taught him so much regarding the intricate nature of humanity, that it was only a matter of time before Andrew became intrigued with the idea of freedom. And while Sir initially resents Andrew’s wish to be free, in the end, he is glad that Andrew found his freedom.
When Sir and his wife see the humble gift that Andrew made for Little Miss, Sir is extremely impressed with Andrew’s creative ingenuity, and he is even more impressed when Andrew expresses to him that he enjoys making his wooden carvings and listening to opera on the record player. When Sir takes Andrew to robotics company that created him and shows one of the company’s owners Andrew’s hand-carved figurines, rather than being impressed by Andrew’s unique gift and personality, he instead, refers to Andrew as “it” and wants to destroy Andrew’s uniqueness entirely. When he tells Sir and Andrew “This is a household appliance, and yet, you treat it as a man” Sir’s response to the gentleman, illustrates Andrew’s growing uniqueness perfectly. He tells the owner “Andrew is unique and irreplaceable. There is no price for individuality…he is for better or for worse, my robot and you will not lay your hands on him.” Sir also tells Andrew that he wants to encourage Andrew’s creativity, by having him craft homemade clocks and timepieces from the driftwood that he finds on the beach.
Andrew’s first acknowledgement of his individuality is illustrated when Andrew stops referring to himself as “One.” Initially, even when he is talking to Sir, or Little Miss, Andrew refers to himself as “One” …as he does after Little Miss’s wedding, when he comforts Sir by telling him “One is still here.” Andrew addresses himself properly for the first time, when he tells Sir, “Called, or uncalled, ‘I’ am always at your service” when Sir gives Andrew his freedom and asks him to leave. It is only when Andrew petitions to be declared human for the first time, and his petition is denied, and he is told that he will forever be regarded as a machine, that he momentarily reverts to calling himself “One” again. When Andrew leaves his life, in the end, as a free and acknowledged man, Portia asks their nurse, Galatea, to disconnect her from life support, so that she can be with Andrew, that we hear this phrase one last time, when Galatea says goodbye.
While Little Miss was Andrew’s confidante and friend, who taught him the internal essence of his identity, her granddaughter, Portia, befriends Andrew, and guides him through the very difficult journey to embracing the physical and emotional side of his humanity. Although he is an android, Andrew has formed strong emotional connections with Sir and Little Miss, considering them to be his family. When Andrew returns from his twenty-year search, after trying to find another robot, like himself, he is unnerved to discover that Little Miss is now a wizened old woman, and her granddaughter, Portia, now bears a strong resemblance to Little Miss. When Portia asks Andrew what it is he wants from her, Andrew’s answer is simple: he wants family. Sir is now dead, and Little Miss is getting old, and Andrew feels lost without these connections, and he is desperately trying to hold on to that family bond that he had with them, by connecting with Portia. Portia’s first moment of helping Andrew comes when Little Miss is on her death bed. Andrew sees her, one last time, and she is holding the carved horse figurine that Andrew gave her when she was a child…as if she were finding comfort, in her last moments, in holding onto this piece of her dear friend that entwines them. When Little Miss dies, Andrew laments to Portia, that it is cruel that she can cry over this loss when he cannot, because he has this deep pain at the loss of his dear friend, and he can’t express this pain, as she does, by crying.
Portia helps Andrew as he begins a new journey; one that he must take to understand this most beautiful and painful truth of humanity…that everyone we love will eventually die. It is Little Miss’s death, and Andrew’s fear of losing everyone he cares about to death, which compels Andrew to make his greatest transformation of all: becoming a man. While Andrew’s humanity is both a physical transformation and an emotional journey, and the organs that Andrew and Rupert create will allow life to be prolonged for humans, while ironically transforming Andrew from an immortal machine to a mortal and living man, making him human, at least in part, this illusion of humanity is not enough to truly cement and acknowledge the validity of Andrew’s humanity. For Andrew to complete his journey, he must be acknowledged as a human being and not a machine. When the World Chairman asks Andrew to explain his reason for why he wants to be declared a human being, Andrew tells her, “As a robot, I could have lived forever. But I tell you all today, I would rather die a man, than live for all eternity as a machine. To be acknowledged for who and what I am, no more, no less. Not for acclaim, not for approval, but the simple truth of that recognition. This has been the elemental drive of my existence, and it must be achieved, if I am to live or die with dignity. It was only at the very end of Andrew’s two-hundred-year life, that Andrew truly found his humanity, at last.
Bicentennial Man is a beautiful and heartfelt story, which explores the multiple facets of humanity through the eyes of Andrew, who is not human, himself. The casting for this film is stellar, particularly for Robin Williams who brings Andrew to life, both literally and emotionally, and Sam Neill, who becomes Andrew’s teacher, mentor, father, and friend, on his long journey achieving his dream of humanity. Overall, I would highly recommend this film.
© 2022 Keriane Kellogg