The Netflix original movie “What Happened to Monday,” released August 18, takes a different approach to the modern dystopian future that has been one of the more popular film genres in the past few years.
The film is set 56 years in the future, and the population has gotten out of control, as every four days there are one million new people on the planet. The government responds by only allowing parents to have one child per family. The trouble is that with the new genetically modified crops being produced, many mothers are having multiple births per pregnancy. This includes the mother of the seven Settman sisters, who are forced into hiding for fear of being taken away by the government. Each sister is named after a day of the week, and they are only allowed to leave the house on the day of their name. Once they step outside, they all take on the identity of “Karen Settman” to make sure nobody finds out their secret.
The plot is really set in motion when the eldest sister Monday doesn’t come home one night, and the sisters begin to worry about her safety. The six of them investigate her whereabouts while trying to avoid the government, who have learned the truth and are quickly hunting them down, as the sisters have deceived them for over 30 years.
The main idea of the film is compelling, and main actress Noomi Rapace did a phenomenal job jumping into the role of seven different sisters each with distinct personalities, quirks, and flaws. However, the actual story development suffered as the movie went on, relying on violence and battle scenes rather than the actual story.
While the overall plot could use more development and the fight scenes seemed to be the main focus of the film, “What Happened to Monday” was an interesting watch in that it balanced the rough present day lives of the young adult sisters, with the endearing flashbacks from when the sisters were young. It also was intriguing in how it took on the perspective of septuplets in an extremely overpopulated world. However, for someone who isn’t into violence, this wouldn’t be recommended as that is primarily what the film revolves around.
6/10
Grace Becker // News Editor
