TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Department of Civil Engineering
S.Y. 2018-2019, 2nd Semester

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

ACTIVITY NO. 2

MOVIE REVIEW: (WHAT HAPPENED TO

MONDAY)
(Sci-fi: August 30, 2017)

Submitted by:

Submitted to:
ENGR. KAREN JOY L. CERVANTES
Instructor

Date:
February 21, 2019
 What Happened to Monday is a 2017  science fiction thriller film, written by Max
Botkin and Kerry Williamson, directed by Tommy Wirkola and starring Noomi Rapace, Glenn
Close and Willem Dafoe. The film was initially released last August 30, 2017 in France.
Overpopulation has been a popular theme in this science fiction film. It is a set in a future in
which a one-child policy is strictly applied. The film begins by reminding viewers of the large
population that has taken place in the last century, before then jumping to 2073, where the
world’s population has doubled. With so many people to feed, food slowly grows limited.

“In the last 50 years, we’ve doubled our population, tripled the amount of food and
water we use and we have quadrupled the use of fossil fuels,” the film begins. “Every four
days, there is a million more people on the planet.” In the film, this lack of food shoots
European countries to make careless decisions, which leads them to adopt artificially grown
food. As a result, genetic modifications gone wrong, humans become prone to multiple births
or genetic defects.

In the year 2073, where overpopulation, limited fossil fuels and global food shortage
have led to the biggest crisis in human history and the implementation of the one-child-per-
family policy, called the "Child Allocation Act". Which states that if you had more than one
child, the younger siblings would be put to sleep called Cyrosleep, a deep sleep during which
the body is stored at very cold temperature, to preserve it through cryogenics until the world
would become more habitable. To ensure people were following these regulations, the
government distributed bracelets that could be scanned in order to identify people at different
checkpoints throughout cities. When scanned, the bracelets present your face and information,
along with data that states if you have a sibling or not. If another sibling is present, police are
informed to take the child away to be put to rest.

And then the day came, Karen Settman gave birth to her seven identical Septuplets,
and a bad happened to her, Karen died after giving birth. Under those circumstances, the
political activist Nicolette Cayman promises a bright future in a brave new world, while
Terrence Settman, the grandfather of the septulets decides to get around the government's
order in a desperate attempt to hide his septuplet grandchildren. Their grandfather Terrence
names them after the days of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday and Sunday). He trains them to be as a single individual named after their mother.
To maintain their secret, Terrence ensures they share information at a meeting on a daily
basis and replicates any accident that affects one of the sisters' physical appearance. The
sisters develop a system of wigs and makeup to cover any identifying features. Terrence
always reminds them the importance of going out only one at a time, and tells them that what
happens to one of them must happen to all of them.

When Thursday breaks the rules by going out on a day that she is not supposed to go
out, she injures one of her fingers. Her index finger was cut. A disappointed Terrence is forced
to remove the same portion of finger from all the girls to maintain a single appearance,
starting with Monday.
 Decades later, the sisters have all succeeded to survive without suspicion. As Sunday
returns from her job at a bank, she saw C.A.B. agents picked the child because the found out
that it is not the only child. The siblings watch the recorded incident and debate turning
themselves in the situation, particularly Thursday, who wonders if being put into cryosleep
would be so bad; she wouldn't mind being woken up even a hundred years in the future if it
means being able to be her own person in public and find a romantic partner. Others, like
Saturday, are disappointed at the thought of being separated, and the responsible eldest
sister, Monday, insists on the importance of working together as a team. After Monday's
strong warning, everyone agrees to continue their doing. The following day, Monday prepares
her disguise as Karen, nervous about giving a presentation. At a checkpoint, Monday runs into
Adrian Knowles, a C.A.B. agent who has a feeling with her. At the bank, Monday's co-worker
Jerry, a competitor for a promotion, mentions at blackmailing her.

The night is approaching, but Monday doesn't return home yet. This worries the rest of
the sisters, who know that Monday is the most responsible and has never missed a meeting
and never been go home late. Tuesday reviews her steps the next day. She went to the office
and Tuesday discovered that Monday got the promotion and met Jerry at a bar. Then Tuesday
went to the said bar and when she gets there she found out that Harry and Monday argued.
And all the sisters conclude that Jerry is with Monday.

Before she can investigate more, C.A.B. agents hold up her and cut off her
communications with her remaining sisters. Adrian sees Tuesday being taken to a small room,
where she meets Nicolette Cayman, head of the bureau and a candidate for government.
Cayman explains that she already knows about Tuesday's siblings, but Tuesday insists that she
is only child and when Tuesday offers a money, Nicolette reveals that Monday offered the
same deal. Cayman orders C.A.B. agents to kill Tuesday's sisters. Guards from CAB come to
the apartment, using Tuesday’s eyeball to get in. A very strange fight with the guards
happened. With each woman’s character showing through in their fighting style. The sisters kill
the agents, but Sunday dies after being hit by a gunfire. And then they found out that the eye
used by the C.A.B to enter the apartment is Tuesday’s eye.

The next day, Wednesday leaves without disguising herself and confronts Jerry. When
Wednesday arrives at Jerry’s apartment, Basically Jerry wants Karen to pass on the promotion
or else he is going to let others know about “her little secret”. Which confused Wednesday.
But it wasn’t about the sisters, it was the transferred contract. He reveals the sisters got the
promotion when "Karen" sent millions of euros to Cayman to fund her campaign. A C.A.B.
sniper kills Jerry, Wednesday panic and she quickly open the tablet using Jerry’s fingerprint,
and she transfer the contract over her sisters. After she linked all the contract Wednesday get
out of Jerry’s apartment and kills some C.A.B. agents and escapes.
As the others guided Wednesday to safety, Adrian shows up at the apartment,
concerned about "Karen". Thursday convinces Saturday to leave with Adrian, who has had a
long-term relationship with one of the sisters. Pretending to be Karen, Saturday secretly links
their bracelets, allowing Friday to hack into C.A.B. headquarters. On a video feed, they find
Monday in a holding cell. Meanwhile, C.A.B. agents corner and kill Wednesday when she jump
across the rooftops. After Adrian leaves his apartment, C.A.B. agents kill Saturday after she
reveals that Monday was the one dating Adrian.

Then the CAB agents went to the apartment with tear gas, but Friday protect Thursday
and stays behind in order to transfer all the files/photos. When C.A.B. agents attack the
apartment, Friday sacrifices herself to give Thursday a chance to escape and save Monday.
Adrian hears about the incident and worried, rushes to the apartment. Thursday takes him
hostage and blames him of selling Monday out, blaming him for the deaths of her sisters. He is
at first confused but claims to love Monday after realizing they are siblings.

When Thursday realized that Adrian is innocent, Thursday convinces Adrian to help her
by telling him Monday is still alive. Adrian convinced to help Thursday. He takes Thursday to
the Child Allocation Bureau in a body bag, acting as if she was one of the sisters who had
previously died. While Thursday is acting, she records as witnesses a girl getting put to
“cryosleep” instead of being frozen the girl was actually burnt.

After fighting with the guards, Adrian and Thursday saw Tuesday and it is still alive, but
lost her eye. When Thursday asks Tuesday what happened to Monday, they found out that
Monday corrupted Cayman with a very large campaign donation to get rid of her other sisters
and take on the identity for herself.

Monday and Thursday meet at the Cayman fundraiser in the bathroom. Thursday
confronts Monday. Monday said that she was always the best Karen Settman, and deserved to
have the life for her own; her sisters were just "afterbirth." Monday hated the other sisters for
not being as responsible as her, especially Thursday, whose carelessness cost everyone part of
a finger. After a fight, Thursday shoots Monday and leaves her for dead. As Cayman hosts a
fundraiser, Tuesday and Adrian show Thursday's video footage.

The crowd turns on Cayman, who insists she only did what was necessary. Monday
stand steadily into the fundraiser, but a C.A.B. agent shoots her before she can kill Cayman.
As the crowd escapes, Monday reveals to the others that she was pregnant and begs with
Thursday to take care of her children as she dies. After all the Child Allocation Act is void and
Cayman faces the death penalty. Thursday, Adrian, and Tuesday watch Monday's and Adrian's
twins grow in an artificial womb. Tuesday and Thursday rename themselves Terry and Karen.
The six sisters were successful in taking down this biased government established by
the Child Allocation Bureau.

The rising action in the story for me is when Karen Settman give birth to her seven
identical Septuplet, then that time Nicolette Cayman implement the one-child-per-family policy,
or the "Child Allocation Act". Besides that policy, the grandfather of the septuplets still decides
to disobey the government's order in a desperate attempt to hide his septuplet grandchildren.

The climax is when Monday went missing as she was out from her work, then the
government knows their secret which led to attack their home trying to eliminate the evidence
of their failure. Who could have known their secret? How will Karen Settman survive? And
what happened to Monday?

I think they used a lot of fire elements, explosions, and smoke in the film and having
seven characters, all played by the same actress is one of the creative part in the film and it
was all played by Noomi Rapace.

The seven characters are Monday, she is little miss perfect among them. She fulfils its
roles and promises in a perfect way, even at the cost of her own desires. Tuesday, a kind of a
girl who follows the latest trends and fashions. She is the most relaxed and positive of all the
sisters. Wednesday is dedicated to physical training. She is strong. She works hard every day
to maintain and make her body in shape. Thursday is the rebel girl of the group. At the
beginning, she seems to be the most expected to not follow the order organized by her
grandfather. Thursday looks to enjoy dressing in a masculine way, so it looks like she does not
like men, but women, I guess. Friday is the most talented in networks, software, codes and
technology, she is very careless with her. Saturday is the playful sister who likes to dress in a
sexy way, to be as attractive as possible, it is easy to recognize her because of her blonde hair
and Sunday is the most spiritual of all the sisters. She has an emotional intelligence that allows
her to read her sisters mind.) The acting by Noomi Rapace is nothing but incredible. However,
the idea of the seven sisters working together to survive was what made this story unique.
Although Noomi played seven roles, each character had the chance of sharing their story and
distinctive traits.

In the ending of the movie, Tuesday and Thursday talking, and looking on the twins
that had been saved from Monday.  And it was these twins that started her on this journey,
searching for a normal life in this unusual world. And somehow this is enough for Tuesday and
Thursday to forgive Monday for all the bad thing she have done to her sisters. Which, in my
opinion is the hardest thing for me to accept. Five of the sisters are now dead and just like
that they are okay with what Monday’s did. But of course, remember that family is always a
family, and no matter what happen or whatever the situation is the spirit of love still remains
and for me that matters the most.

This movie uses certain themes that have a major impact in the possible might happen
in the near future. “What Happened to Monday?” uses an imaginary image to challenge the
very real topics of population control, food preservation and hierarchy of human value and it
tell us how, within just a few decades, overpopulation will begin to affect the lives of millions of
people across the world. The idea that the Earth gains another million people every four days
might sound stupid, but it helps to get what message they want to give us. They presented a
future in this movie that doesn’t sound unbelievable and could happen. Especially in our
political situation today. And it brings up an important question to me: What must be done in
order to prevent overpopulation? I wonder how much money was being spent to keep huge
amounts of children frozen and why was not that money being spent to develop food and
water. In the film, governments solve the problem by giving permission to adopt genetically
modified foods and implementing a version of universal birth control. Introducing a government
that takes to challenge the viewers to imagine what real governments will do to preserve the
future. Obviously, people in positions of power do not want to see other people die, so what
should they do? What would you do?