Although (technically) a single location film, FRIENDSHIP’S DEATH is set in Amman during the Black September riots of 1970, where we witness an alien oscilate between artificial intelligence and (very shockingly) the state of Palestine. Early Tilda Swinton absolutely nails her stoic, god-like android persona.
The film’s dialogue has genuinely given me much to ponder on. Among my favorites are;
1. FRIENDSHIP: For example, what would have happened it the Chinese had invented power junks? There's one computer specialising in producing imaginary works of art. Missing paintings by Titian. Shakespeare plays he never actually wrote. Perfect forgeries inserted into the biographical and art historical record so that they fit perfectly. No detectable joins between the possible and the actual. It's beautiful.
2.FRIENDSHIP: I’ve seen enough of Earth to know that if I go to the United States. I’ll be frog-marched off to some safe house somewhere in Virginia for debriefing. And when I’ve been squeezed dry. I’ll be handed over to thr engineers and the AI people. I’ll be stripped down, cut up and submitted to every kind of sadistic test they can devise.
SULLIVAN: Then come to England.
FRIENDSHIP: Who’s not being serious now? You guys would just do exactly the same thing, only slower. I’m only a human being. I’m only a person, a woman, as long as I’m disbelieved.
As soon as somebody believes my story. I’m dead. Finished. I’m a very valuable piece of property, remember. A little piece of a technological dreamworld. How long do you think I’d survive? And even if they could comprehend why they found inside me, what possible good would that do? It would just widen the technology gap and fuel the arms race. It would be the exact opposite of what I was intended to accomplish.
3. FRIENDSHIP: I land on Earth in the one place where I'm among outsiders. Aliens, like me. Aliens in Israel. Aliens in Jordan. Aliens wherever they have to go.
SULLIVAN: You have deluded yourself. You can't become a Palestinian through an act of sympathy.
You are not a Palestinian!
FRIENDSHIP: No, I'm a robot! I’m a machine!Well what’s the place of machines here? Slaves. Unpaid labor. Moral dead matter. You can do what you like to a machine. It has no voice, no rights, no feelings. It's a new sphere for human cruelty.
I know they're vengeful and they act out of rage, but I have every reason to identify with the Palestinians.
Although (technically) a single location film, FRIENDSHIP’S DEATH is set in Amman during the Black September riots of 1970, where we witness an alien oscilate between artificial intelligence and (very shockingly) the state of Palestine. Early Tilda Swinton absolutely nails her stoic, god-like android persona.
The film’s dialogue has genuinely given me much to ponder on. Among my favorites are;
1. FRIENDSHIP: For example, what would have happened it the Chinese had invented power junks? There's one computer specialising in producing imaginary works of art. Missing paintings by Titian. Shakespeare plays he never actually wrote. Perfect forgeries inserted into the biographical and art historical record so that they fit perfectly. No detectable joins between the possible and the actual. It's beautiful.
2.FRIENDSHIP: I’ve seen enough of Earth to know that if I go to the United States. I’ll be frog-marched off to some safe house somewhere in Virginia for debriefing. And when I’ve been squeezed dry. I’ll be handed over to thr engineers and the AI people. I’ll be stripped down, cut up and submitted to every kind of sadistic test they can devise.
SULLIVAN: Then come to England.
FRIENDSHIP: Who’s not being serious now? You guys would just do exactly the same thing, only slower. I’m only a human being. I’m only a person, a woman, as long as I’m disbelieved.
As soon as somebody believes my story. I’m dead. Finished. I’m a very valuable piece of property, remember. A little piece of a technological dreamworld. How long do you think I’d survive? And even if they could comprehend why they found inside me, what possible good would that do? It would just widen the technology gap and fuel the arms race. It would be the exact opposite of what I was intended to accomplish.
3. FRIENDSHIP: I land on Earth in the one place where I'm among outsiders. Aliens, like me. Aliens in Israel. Aliens in Jordan. Aliens wherever they have to go.
SULLIVAN: You have deluded yourself. You can't become a Palestinian through an act of sympathy.
You are not a Palestinian!
FRIENDSHIP: No, I'm a robot! I’m a machine!Well what’s the place of machines here? Slaves. Unpaid labor. Moral dead matter. You can do what you like to a machine. It has no voice, no rights, no feelings. It's a new sphere for human cruelty.
I know they're vengeful and they act out of rage, but I have every reason to identify with the Palestinians.
