Cube | Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni

Cube | Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni | The meaning of CUBE

DVDs:

Cube

	Cube Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni Lions Gate, 1999 average customer review:based on 333 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

If Clive Barker had written an episode of The Twilight Zone, it might have looked something like Cube. A handful of strangers wake up inside a bizarre maze, having been spirited there during the night. They quickly learn that they have to navigate their way through a series of chambers if they have any hope of escape, but the problem is that there are lethal traps awaiting if they choose their route unwisely. Having established some imaginative and grisly punishments in store for the hostages, cowriter and director Vincenzo Natali turns his attention to the characters, for whom being trapped amplifies their best and worst qualities. The film is, in fact, similar to a famous episode of Rod Serling's old television series, though Natali's explanation for why these poor people are being put through hell is a lot closer to the spirit of The X-Files. Cube has some solid moments of suspense and drama, and the sets are appropriately striking: one is tempted to believe at first the characters are lost inside a computer chip. --Tom Keogh

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"Merde"

"What a nightmare" my friend said after we watched "Cube" the first time a few years back. Got that right. If you haven't seen this movie yet and enjoy being horrified and held in extended periods of suspense you are in for a wonderful time.

I just typed out a paragraph describing the plot and setting of the movie, but nevermind. If you haven't seen it yet, it's best if you go in knowing nothing.

The meaning of CUBE

I believe that CUBE has a deeper meaning than just inacting how humans react in extreme situations.

To state the conclusion first :
Cube is a film about language and structure that humans are forever bound to.

In CUBE, there are 26 x 26 x 26 cubes in the entire structure. This represents the 26 alphabet letters and their combinations. The characters wake up in the vast structure of CUBE, just as humans wake up to a world of language, symbols, and meanings attached to the symbols. When humans wake up to the reality (when you begin to have a sense of self and existence) this happens within the scope of language. When we are born we start our lives by recognizing the image of "mother." Then we recognize "self."

CUBE represents the dimension of language. French psycoanalyst Jacques Lacan suggested that the subject is permeated by language. In the movie, Decart's coordinates are mentioned as a key to figure out the position of the cubes. We all know Decart's famous saying: "I think, therefore I exist." The mentioning of Decart may suggest the message that our existance is defined by language by which we think. Conversely, Lacan suggested that thinking and existing are not compatible, because to think means to follow the structure of language into which we were born. Because our own identities are only definable when we are free of the identity of symbols that restrict us, we can never exist as a self with language.

This goes along with the meaning of CUBE. The struggles of the characters are struggles to find their way out of the claws of the world of symbols that define them. And because they cannot exist out of the structures of language, no one manages to exit CUBE through the 27 th room (the unexisting 27 th letter in the English alphabet) except Kazan, the only person free from language. (Perhaps because he does not have the ability to grasp language as the others do)

The first person to be killed (the person who never meets any others, wanders into another room and is meshed into cubes) possibly represents a priest. The absence of the representation of any spiritual leaders among the six people who manage to gather and the overall appearance of the meshed man suggests that he is a priest, possibly Christian or Catholic. The fact that he is the first to be killed suggests that he is the first victim of language and that he is forever bound by it, never doubting its existance or authenticity. This is only possible because Christianity is bound by language, depending on written and spoken sermons to convey important messages.

In CUBE, different cubes move about each other. This represents different symbols leading to other symbols and other meanings. Some people wander from one symbol to the next. Some are killed during their effort while some manage to return to their original position. From when we were born we had not needed to follow symbols and learn language because our existance lies eleswhere. In CUBE, when Leaven, Worth, and Kazan finally return to the cube they started on, Worth loses the will to escape. This symbolizes his fright of leaving the structure of language that defines his identity and existance. Or may be he just realized that the world out there is just as same, regulated by certain structures that he cannot escape from even at death.

The final scenes in which Quentin stakes Leaven and Worth symbolizes the symbol "S" perforated by a "/" which represents Lacan's theory that the subject is permeated by language. The 27 th room, like the 27 th letter in the alphabet that does not exist, is even harder to escape, save Kazan who I doubt knew how many letters the alphabet has.

I really like this movie and the deep meaning that lies behind it. I think that the meaning may differ from my guess, but still, this is the way I interpreted the film. This is only a subjective analysis, and I wanted to share this with other people. I haven't looked, so I don't know if other people think the same way or not.

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Strange, But Cool

"Cube" isn't one of the highest budget movies. The whole thing pretty much takes place in a cube-shaped room... attached to other, identical cube-shaped rooms. No major names. Pretty simple plot.

But I really never get tired of watching it. It's one of those movies you can put on when you're not really sure what you want to watch and always know you'll have a good time. (Fortress is another of those movies I enjoy - kinda cheesy, but lots of fun.)

The idea is, basically, that a seemingly random group of people wake up in this booby-trapped cube. The story is them working out how to escape and figuring out why they're in there to begin with.

Simple, kind of strange, but very cool. It gets better when you see Cube 2 - Hypercube and Cube Zero because those start fleshing out the Cube "universe" - why people might show up in the cube, etc. All three are great, but you have to see the original first.

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Team work

This movie is definately one to check out. It shows how certain situations with certain types of characteristics of the human can change an outcome. Not knowing the outcome, this movie keeps you intrigued to the very end.

Fantastic

While the characters at first seem stereotyped and boring, the audience quickly sees the pattern of dynamicism. It keeps you interested, and is acted quite well. Though obviously not a high-budget movie, it's far better than many that are. Would recommend to anyone who likes thrillers.

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