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“Circle” is a well-thought-out sci-fi meets dark humor meets “Saw” (2004). The film’s fundamental basis lies in morality. One of the biggest questions we are always stumped by is what is right and wrong. Is there a correct answer, or is there even an answer? The point of moral subjectivity is that morality is always defined by the individual facing a moral crisis. We justify our morality through the indignations and praises of others. However, those who oppose morality always question the nature of morality. Can morality ever be universal?
Director-writers Aaron Hann and Mario Miscione explore these concepts of ambiguous morality through historical and current social scenarios in “Circle.” As fans of “12 Angry Men,” the filmmaker duo curates a no-win scenario that would test human dignity and the choices they make. The film’s ingenuity lies in its material. It doesn’t deviate from it. Keeping it in one location ensures the end is reached swiftly, and the film scales its highs and lows through a socially varied ensemble cast.
Circle (2015) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
What happens if you leave the Red Circle?
The plot of “Circle” is quite simple. Fifty people are trapped in a dome-shaped cathedral of human disingenuity. All the characters are placed in small circles as they all face towards another red ball of energy. The film’s beginning is chaotic as some of them are not able to figure out what is happening to them, and they try to leave the circles they have been placed in. As one of them tries to leave, the red ball of energy sparks and kills the participant. Is it a game? It takes a few minutes to figure out what exactly they should do, as happens with most games and players who haven’t played the game before.
This is where the film picks up. Every two minutes, someone is going to die. If you try to leave the red circles or try to touch another player, you will die. In the chaos that ensues, several players die until the reality dawns on them. The technology allows them to vote on who should be the next person to die. It’s a death match with everyone destined to die till the last person standing. Who is it going to be? Most of the characters hail from different social classes. You have the police officer, cancer survivor, atheist, minister of the church, family man, marine, financial broker, wife-beater, pregnant lady, older people, and a few children as well.
How do the players choose to kill the other players?
People in the group start to decipher that they must decide how to play the game and buy some time. The conclusion they reach is to kill the older players. As the older people are knocked off one by one, the group starts to discuss their personal lives, how some of them know each other, and how they got here. Eric, played by Michael Nardelli, says how he was sucked up by an alien ship when he was trying to flee Los Angeles. As the players turn on each other, one man is killed as he targets a cancer survivor, and the group turns on him. The police officer shares information about the wife-beater, and he is killed. Several others follow him until people start pointing out that the selection is racist, and when the police officer goes on a racist rant himself, he is booted off.
As the film hurtles towards what seems like a straightforward and predictable ending, the group decides to experiment with how they would like to vote. They find out that they can’t vote for themselves and decide to vote for the person next to them, which would mean no one would get killed in the process. However, a man votes against the pregnant mother, and Eric decides to vote for him, tying their scores. The man dies in the ensuing vote.
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Soon, two factions develop, and they are for and against the child and the expectant mother to be left out of the voting process. One faction thinks that everybody has an equal right to survive and they should not have to discriminate through the Titanic syndrome of women and children first. Eric’s faction, comprising him, the Marine, and the cancer survivor, takes on the bearded man and the rich man’s group. People are even asked to volunteer, and a sixteen-year-old rises to the occasion like many others.
Soon, Eric and the bearded man try to court votes, and all of them suffer heavy losses as a couple of individuals posing as couples have lied to the group, which results in the guy dying. As both the factions suffer heavy losses and the bearded man also dies right at the end, Eric is left with the expectant mother, the child, and another man who never voted and survived so long until then.
Once that man is gone, Eric and the child decide to let the expectant mother live. In a flashbang moment, the child steps outside the circle, and Eric votes for the pregnant girl. Both of them die, and later, there is a tie between the unborn yet undead child in her belly and him, and he doesn’t hesitate to kill the unborn child. Soon, Eric finds himself on the ground in Los Angeles, and he looks up at the alien spaceship and joins a similar group of diverse people as the film rushes to the end credits.
What “The Circle” is about?
The writer-director duo explores many themes and concepts in “The Circle.” This film is loaded with many questions rather than answers. The most predictable ending is death, as is familiar with what life entails. But there are many questions as to who has to die and why they die. As the initial confusion dies down, it does come down to Nazi tactics by killing off the old who aren’t big social and economic contributors. This film has given several subtle nods to many films, most notably “Saw,” “Cube,” and “The Purge.” Anyone can be killed regardless of the social factors on one given day.
Here, as the sole purpose is survival, the most common theme that pops out is survival of the fittest. According to Herbert Spencer and social Darwinist theories, those most successful at adapting to a changing cultural environment are those most likely to enjoy societal success in the form of gaining status and resources. These successful individuals pass on their culturally-adaptive advantages to their offspring. Because these people’s offspring enjoy the luxury of a more advantageous position in society, they are in an even better position to evolve further on the socioeconomic ladder.
The film is an example of that. Selections are made based on what they have to offer. There are scenes where the financial broker questions a lesbian lady as to why she gets to live because she and her wife would not be able to provide their child with an excellent environment to survive. “The Circle” poses all these questions to the audience, and the audience starts to choose who should be booted off next. It is presented as a reality television setup where the ugliness of the people on screen is watched through the hungry and voyeuristic gaze of the audience. We become the silent perpetrators or even the aliens in this question.
Circle (2015) Movie Ending Explained:
What happens to Eric in the End?
Eric winning the contest is of much social importance. He is a clean-cut, white, young, straight individual, and that is the pick of the lottery when it comes to identity politics. The film tackles many such themes on identity politics when the people in the show want to kill off the Mexican gentleman because everyone thinks that he is an undocumented person. Not only that but questions were asked of each and every individual, even the pregnant lady. The people grill her about who the father is and whether they are married. There were even suggestions that people with family should be allowed to live. So, the concept of homogeneity and heteronormativity by ascribing to the dominant social paradigms is the most important according to the society.
Eric is then at the top of the food chain and survives. He commits the heinous crime of killing three people, and he is the villain in the eyes of the audience. But let me pose a question? Didn’t they participate, including the mother and the child, in the killing of the other forty-seven participants? Everyone is guilty, yet Eric is the one most villainized by the people because he saves himself and does not succumb to the selfless act of sacrifice. Some people would even agree with this viewpoint, yet not agree with the way he does it.
He leads them to believe he will save them and then betrays them. This can be very simply referred to and understood by the trolley problem. In this series of thought experiments, people would have to choose whether they want to kill one person or five people. 90% of respondents have opted to kill one and save the other five. From a purely logical and ethical standpoint, killing one is as good as killing a hundred. So why should Eric be villainised? When Eric is sent back to Earth, he joins people looking up at the alien ship. The most promising explanation for this ending is that he has now gotten a taste of the thrills of manipulation and survival. Eric wants to participate again and test whether he can survive again. Maybe this wasn’t the first time that he had won the game of survival.
What’s the importance of the silent man?
The silent man remains silent throughout the entire process and doesn’t draw attention till the very end when it is discovered that he doesn’t vote. It also symbolizes us. When factions and power blocs are formed, everybody decides to choose a side. The constant othering makes us always want to be a part of the dominant power bloc. This can also be achieved by not voting and being a part of wherever power flows. In that way, you can always blend in and survive till the very end. This perhaps refers to the number of apoliticals in the world. Not voting and letting things happen as they are is also a way of surviving. Even though, at the very end, he might’ve died, it still does point us towards the simple conclusion that when people are fighting with each other, sometimes just being a passive observer also helps.
