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The narrative and ideas of “Blade Runner” have become a part of the philosophies in my everyday life. I know every scene and every character perhaps better than I know myself. Spirituality drives this film from start to finish and this is what has kept it viable for 25 years.

I first saw director Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner three times during the summer of 1982. I anticipated the release after reading the movie’s inspiration; Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Since then I watched every released version of the film.

I liked the controversial producer’s original “voice over” editions released in 1982 but Scott’s director’s cut from the advent of video has always been my favorite.

This latest “Final Cut” special edition re-release was too hard for me to resist, so I picked it up over the weekend. In this version, 5.1-surround sound is added, the images are digitally remastered and some of the obvious technical and continuity mistakes are corrected.

The remastering of the imagery is wonderful. The scenes showing 2019 Los Angeles or “Hades Landscape” come alive on the screen. The DVD extras show in full detail how the effects and miniatures crews pulled off the scenes. The effects were so far ahead of their time, I feel they are more realistic than modern computer driven examples.

This is a film about the grit and sludge underneath the rug of the future, where good is evil and evil could be good. It screams an anthem of needed change and still after 25 years, predicts a future in the eyesight’s of our generation.

Don’t get caught up in all the questions the movie leaves. Is Deckard a replicant? Don’t try to figure out the translations of “city speak” like so many fan websites.

If you’ve never seen the film, think about the questions the film answers about the human condition. Everybody wants a chance to live and be a part of the world and there is no room for exclusion. Even with replicants or people we don’t like.

When we exclude or try to control the world or it’s inhabitants, vengeance comes down from the heavens and reeks havoc and chaos.

rlh

Wordpress, the software I used to create this blog, is a wonderful open source gift to the world. However, I find myself staring endlessly at the computer screen trying to figure out the smallest of details about code. Over the last few weeks, I was using this blog as a way to learn the code, with an ultimate goal of creating interfaces for web content and video.

An excellent escape on Saturday was the gift of a wonderful film. The acting, cinematography and writing of “Into The Wild”, make it one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time.
All photojournalists, who are diving into the moving image, could be inspired by the work of the films cinematographer Eric Gautier. He also photographed “The Motorcycle Diaries”, another one of my favorite recent films.

rlh