Cloud Atlas Analysis
I decided to follow Tom Hank's incarnations in Cloud Atlas, because he appears in every story and and has some generally important roles to play, as well as being connected to Halle Berry's incarnations in three of the stories.
Chronologically, he is Doctor Goose in the story of Adam Ewing, an opportunistic villain preying on Adam's illness by feeding him poison disguised as medicine. He echoes the line "The weak are meat, and the strong do eat" said by some villains of the other stories, and his defeat, as well as the defeat of the other villains echoing this line serves as a disproving of that concept.
Then, in Robert Frobisher's story, he is the greedy hotel manager who takes advantage of Frobisher towards the end of his story. He doesn't serve much of a point besides being a minor antagonist to Frobisher, but he's there.
In Luisa Ray's story, Hanks plays Isaac Sachs, the scientist and whistle-blower who spills the story of the nuclear reactor to Luisa. This story also establishes the connection between Tom Hank's characters and Halle Berry's characters across the stories, as their meeting is an echo of Zachry and Meronym's relationship, taking place in the movie after Zachry and Meronym meet and hinting at their future relationship.
In Cavendish's story, he plays Dermot Hoggins, a dubious book writer who creates the core problem of the plot of that story and then is never seen or mentioned again. There's also a small moment where he's attracted to another character played by Halle Berry, and while neither of them are too important to this specific story, its another small nod to the relationship between the incarnations of their characters.
Tom Hanks is Cavendish in the movie of his life in the story of Somni 451. It's a small part of this story, but it continues one of the main themes of the lives of the past characters affecting the lives of the future characters, and is a large part of Yoona and Somni's character development.
Finally, he is the main protagonist and viewpoint character Zachry the last story. As Zachry, he bookends the movie, as it starts and ends with him telling his story at a campfire, and his relationship with Meronym, played by Halle Berry, is echoed throughout the movie in different stories.
For some other thoughts mostly unrelated to Tom Hanks, I thought the "twist" of the movie was played out several times, both with the juxtaposition of situations in the movie and echoing of lines or relationships. As an example, Adam and Tilda Ewing's stand against slavery and statement of joining the abolitionists is juxtaposed with Somni's public execution. The line "what is an ocean but a multitude of drops" describes both Ewing's newfound stance against the establishment of slavery, but also Somni's role in creating the "drops" against the established ocean of Unanimity, with the onlookers thoughts having been challenged, and at least of few of them convinced of Somni's arguments, leading to eventual fall of Unanimity.
Other similar moments include dramatic shots of the shooting star birthmark for every character, the echoing of Somni's proclamations, and the moments of recognizing the real-life actors playing each character in every story.
Chronologically, he is Doctor Goose in the story of Adam Ewing, an opportunistic villain preying on Adam's illness by feeding him poison disguised as medicine. He echoes the line "The weak are meat, and the strong do eat" said by some villains of the other stories, and his defeat, as well as the defeat of the other villains echoing this line serves as a disproving of that concept.
Then, in Robert Frobisher's story, he is the greedy hotel manager who takes advantage of Frobisher towards the end of his story. He doesn't serve much of a point besides being a minor antagonist to Frobisher, but he's there.
In Luisa Ray's story, Hanks plays Isaac Sachs, the scientist and whistle-blower who spills the story of the nuclear reactor to Luisa. This story also establishes the connection between Tom Hank's characters and Halle Berry's characters across the stories, as their meeting is an echo of Zachry and Meronym's relationship, taking place in the movie after Zachry and Meronym meet and hinting at their future relationship.
In Cavendish's story, he plays Dermot Hoggins, a dubious book writer who creates the core problem of the plot of that story and then is never seen or mentioned again. There's also a small moment where he's attracted to another character played by Halle Berry, and while neither of them are too important to this specific story, its another small nod to the relationship between the incarnations of their characters.
Tom Hanks is Cavendish in the movie of his life in the story of Somni 451. It's a small part of this story, but it continues one of the main themes of the lives of the past characters affecting the lives of the future characters, and is a large part of Yoona and Somni's character development.
Finally, he is the main protagonist and viewpoint character Zachry the last story. As Zachry, he bookends the movie, as it starts and ends with him telling his story at a campfire, and his relationship with Meronym, played by Halle Berry, is echoed throughout the movie in different stories.
For some other thoughts mostly unrelated to Tom Hanks, I thought the "twist" of the movie was played out several times, both with the juxtaposition of situations in the movie and echoing of lines or relationships. As an example, Adam and Tilda Ewing's stand against slavery and statement of joining the abolitionists is juxtaposed with Somni's public execution. The line "what is an ocean but a multitude of drops" describes both Ewing's newfound stance against the establishment of slavery, but also Somni's role in creating the "drops" against the established ocean of Unanimity, with the onlookers thoughts having been challenged, and at least of few of them convinced of Somni's arguments, leading to eventual fall of Unanimity.
Other similar moments include dramatic shots of the shooting star birthmark for every character, the echoing of Somni's proclamations, and the moments of recognizing the real-life actors playing each character in every story.
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