Compiled by Volgograd State Technical University

Foreign Language Centre

Andrew Karasik upper-intermediate/ advanced level

Written and directed by Kurt Wimmer In a Future Where

Produced by Jan De Bont, Lucas Foster Freedom Is Outlawed

Outlaws Will Become Heroes

L i s t o f c h a r a c t e r s:

P r e s t o n (Christian Bale) – a top ranking government agent responsible for destroying

those who resist the state regime and the only person

capable of overthrowing it.

P a r t r i d g e (Sean Bean) – Preston’s partner who supports Resistance, fighting for

freedom and thus challenging the whole governmental

system.

D u p o n t (Agnus MacFadyen) – an arrogant fanatical tyrant who manipulates human lives

to quench his thirst for power. Being the actual head of

the state he prefers to remain safely anonymous.

B r a n d t (Taye Diggs) – Preston’s new partner who takes the rank as a career-

making advancement and tries to sully Preston’s good

name to win Dupont’s favour.

R o b b i e (William Fisher) – Preston’s son who pretends to follow his father’s career

secretly opposing the tyrannical regime of the state.

M a r y (Emily Watson) – a resistance fighter who challenges Preston crashing his

stereotypes and helps him to find a new meaning of life.

J u r g e n (Mathew Harbour) – head of the Resistance who devotes all his life to free his

country from the tyranny.

Dear friends & colleagues,

I’m both very happy & proud to bring this film research to your attention. The choice of the material is by no means coincidental. There’re lots of famous films everyone knows & talks about – Bonds, historical films such as Titanic, Braveheart, Spartacus, drama films like Shindlers List, City of Andels, Shallow Grave, there’re brilliant & hilarious comedies, breathtaking action films, ingenious sci-fi films like Matrix trilogy, Vanilla Sky or Total Recall & of course there’re intellectual riddles like Tarkovskiy’s films, Cube or Revolver.

But I haven’t chosen any of these. Equilibrium is not a well-known film, moreover, very few people heard of it, but nevertheless I can assure you that it is no doubt one of the greatest films in cinematography. Why? Because this film deals with one of the most vital problems of modern times – the problem of totalitarianism, which plagued most of the globe in the XX century known as communism and fascism, and is still ruining people’s lives these days. One of the tragedies is that many people don’t view this as disaster at all but still consider it the best state of events. Such people still have slavery mentality. There’re still statues of Lenin for people to worship everywhere in Russia, there’re Lenin streets & squares almost in every towns & cities despite of the fact that that was one of the most brutal tyrant in the history of the world… A few years ago I was stopped in the streets of London by a lady asking me to join communist movement there, arguing that it is the best system in the world...

Equilibrium just deals with a very similar situation. It’s a sci-fi fiction film, but contrary to the most of films of same genre Equilibrium is very realistic. The action takes place in the world where freedom is outlawed, where everyone worships the head of the state, & where people are devoid of the greatest gift of mankind – free will, which is also known as freedom of choice. And similar to communism or fascism people are given very sweet-sounding reasons for that regime… with one purpose – to disguise the actual purpose of that, to bring everyone under control, to manipulate citizens in order to have absolute tyrannical power. Fear rules the country, no one is sure his or her closest relative won’t report them to the state control organisation and that they won’t be executed tomorrow. And of course everyone is telling each other that they are very happy… Because if they won’t… But still there’s an opposition – & as it is well know “it’s impossible to overthrow the system without being a part of it.”

I’m not telling you whether there’ll be a happy end here or a bitter one. You’ve got to live through Equilibrium on your own. This is the second edition of the book, I’ve split the film into 32 logical sequences, diversified the studying material & split the vocabulary into two categories: the active vocabulary words which are to be learned, practised & used in your speech, & optional word necessary to understand the film. I’ve captured all the scenes in the episodes, so that after you go through the book from start to finish I guarantee you that you’ll understand it better than native speakers as there’s no film material missed. Please don’t run forward & look through the new material which you haven’t taken so far as it will damage the studying process, your understanding of the film & you won’t enjoy it the way you can.

I hope to both teach you genuine English, as this film was not adopted or abridged, & I also expect you not only to enjoy the film (which you no doubt will) but to reconsider this problem & at least not be so light-hearted about it as very sadly most of our citizens are…

Best wishes always,

19/I/2006

Andrey Vladimirovich Karasik

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Basic obligatory active vocabulary words necessary to understand the episodes;
riddle – загадка; capacity – способность; to infiltrate – проникать; to hit – (about an idea or the truth) осенять; undetected – необнаруженный; midst – середина; provocateur – провокатор; political puppet – политическая марионетка; to pursue – продолжать; paternal – отцовский, отеческий; saviour – избавитель, спаситель;	to mind – беречь, оберегать; millennium – тысячелетие; conquest – завоевание;

Additional optional words necessary to understand the episodes;

volatile – непостоянный, изменчивый; eradicate – искоренять; compound – огороженная территория; en route – по пути, по дороге; Tetragrammaton – Тетраграмматон (только в фильме “Equilibrium”: высшие духовные лица контролирующие порядок в Либрии); evidentiary team – группа по сбору улик; to reign – царить; dizzying – головокружительный; abysmal – бездонный; Prozium – Прозиум; (только в фильме “Equilibrium”: лекарство подавляющее эмоции); EC (emotional content) – ЭС – эмоциосодержащее; The Nethers – Незер (только в фильме “Equilibrium”: дикие земли неконтролируемые Либрией); Conciliarly –совет; prodigal – расточительный; manastery – (мужской) монастырь; (только в фильме “Equilibrium”: духовная школа готовящая клериков Тетраграмматон); to incinerate – сжигать дотла; interval – интервал; (только в фильме “Equilibrium”: инъекции прозиума регулярно принимаемые всеми Либрианцами в заданное время суток); sense offender– чувствующий преступник (только в фильме “Equilibrium”: Либрианец самовольно не принимающий инъекции прозиума); prosecutorial – обвиняющий; pending – незаконченный, ожидающий решения; enforcement – обеспечение правопорядка; vestigial – исчезающий, остаточный; placement – место (работы); fortuitous – неожиданный; synergistic – синергический (связанный с успешной коллективной деятельностью); precept – правило поведения, принцип; to triumph – праздновать победу, ликовать; march – марш, строевой шаг; unwavering – непоколебимый; suppression – подавление (восстания и т.п.); entry – вхождение; deployment – развертывание войск;

article – вещь, предмет; technician – техник, лаборант; (только в фильме “Equilibrium” – лаборант крематория); Palace of Justice – Дворец Справедливости (только в фильме “Equilibrium” – суд и крематорий Либрии); to remand – возвращать под стражу; processing – обработка; (только в фильме “Equilibrium” – сожжение в крематории); antagoinist / adversary – соперник; противник; fluid – плавный, подвижный; rote mastery – свободное владение мастерством; lethal – смертоносный; nepenthe – непентес; (мифическое снадобье дающее забвение); opiate – опиат (анестезирующее средство содержащее опиум); salve – бальзам; pathos – сострадание; chasm – раздоры; to anaesthetise – обезболивать, заглушать; obliterate – удалять, уничтожать; in stride – месте, одновременно; intrinsically/ inherently – в сущности; в действительности; в своей основе; conformity – похожесть, схожесть; to clean – производить зачистку местности; sweep – (воен.) уничтожать; apprehension – арест, задержание; confiscated – конфискованный; predawn – предрассветный, предутренний; combustion – сжигание; premature – преждевременный; ранний; crackdown – применение суровых мер, подавление; apprehendee – арестованный, задержанный; quadrant – квадрант, четверть круга; foe (literary) – враг, противник; недоброжелатель, недруг; forsake (literary) – оставлять, покидать; wagon – фургон; sweeper – (very rare) спецназ, амон; incineration – сжигание; кремация; auditory – слуховой; (here = включить звук); annihilation – (полное) уничтожение, истребление; momentarily – (American English) – через минуту, очень скоро; impregnated – (formal) беременная.

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Equilibrium (part I)

I. Look through the words necessary to understand the episode;

volatile – непостоянный, изменчивый; eradicate – искоренять

compound – огороженная территория; en route – по пути, по дороге;

Tetragrammaton (here also Grammaton)– Four Hebrew letters (usually transliterated as YHWH (Yahweh) or JHVH (Jehovah)) signifying the Hebrew name for God (which the Jews regarded as too holy to pronounce); here it means “sth extremely holy” – Тетраграмматон;

II. Memorise the following words & be ready to use them in speech as active vocabulary;

equilibrium – a situation in which there is a balance between different forces or aspects; a calm mental state in which you are in control of your feelings; here it also means “the state institutions or governmental blocks of buildings”;

to break out – (of sth bad such as a war or disease) to begin suddenly or violently;

to survive – to continue to live normally or to exist in spite of problems, esp. an injury, illness, war etc; survivor;

arm – a part of an organization that deals with a particular subject or activity;

cleric – a person who leads religious services, (esp. a Christian priest);

sole – only; not shared with anyone else;

to seek out – to try to find sb or sth, esp. when this is difficult;

source – the cause of a problem or the place where it began;

inhumanity – very cruel behaviour or actions;

to blow (~ up) – to damage or destroy sth violently with an explosion or by shooting;

bulb (also 'light bulb) – the glass part that fits into an electric lamp, etc. to give light when it is switched on:

to hit – to attack sth or wound someone with a bomb, bullet etc;

III. Match the English words with their Russian Equivalents:

equilibrium духовное лицо;

to break out взрывать;

to survive бесчеловечность;

arm единственный, исключительный;

cleric лампочка;

sole равновесие;

to seek out власть, сила;

source разразиться;

inhumanity выжить;

to blow источник, причина;

bulb поражать, попадать в цель;

to hit искать, разыскивать кого-л;

IV. Read the questions below and find the answers in the film:

1) What happened in the beginning of the 21st century? What did the survivors know?

2) What did they create & what was the purpose of that?

3) Where was the rebel group located and how many people were there?

4) Was the painting of Mona Lisa a forgery or the real one? What did Preston order to do with it?

3

V. Discuss the following questions in pairs or groups of threes using your active vocabulary:

1) What was Father’s position & how did he get it?

2) What was Preston’s job in your opinion? Was he fit for it?

Father (TV): In the first years of the 21st century a third World War broke out. Those of us who survived knew - mankind could never survive a forth, that our own volatile natures could simply no longer be risked. So we have created a new arm of the law - the Grammaton Cleric, whose sole task it is to seek out and eradicate the true source of man's inhumanity to man. His ability to feel.

Rebel: Police!

Rebel Leader: You know what to do. Get down!

Policeman 1: We have an unknown number barricaded in the south-east end of the compound.

Policeman 2: Read that. Tetragrammaton team en route.

Policeman 1: Cleric, lights out. Maybe more than a dozen inside.

Preston: When the door's down, blow the bulbs.

Policeman 1: Yes, sir. Go.

Rebel: Where is he?

Rebel Leader: Shut up.

Rebel: Anybody get him? Did anybody hit him?

Rebel Leader: Shut up! Listen.

Preston: This is it.

Partridge: Where?

Preston: There.

Chemist: It's real.

Preston: Burn it.