Cloud Atlas, though it is a highly complex film that contains six stories of different genres and are set in different timelines with same actors playing different parts, has a fluidity even though it has been directed by three directors, the Wachowski twins, Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, and Tom Tykwer. The trio wanted to make a movie which dealt with multiple genres, had deep spiritual messages as well as express their political statements.
They eventually decided to go through with the idea after they read David Mitchell’s book, Cloud Atlas. As told in a 2012 interview with Devin Faraci of CineFix, the movie that was adapted from the book is not an exact adaptation. The trio used Mitchell’s book as a base and built upon it using their own beliefs and ideas, creating a ‘Frankenbaby’ as Lana called it.
A common theme that runs in the movies that Wachowskis have made in past is of freedom of expression and dissent against the established authority. This is apparent in the movies like ‘The Matrix series’ or ‘V for Vendetta’. The same theme is reproduced in all the stories of Cloud Atlas where the protagonists are being oppressed under a crushing regime.
Another theme that is common in their previous works is of free will and determinism. Tykwer who had previously made ‘Run Lola Run’ and ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ had explored this concept through his films. Though it appears that a protagonist’s story has ended at a point where he had not reached the expectations, he had set for himself, the impact of his actions is felt years later in a time where the next story is set in.
Another factor that really distinguishes the book with the movie is the narrative. While the book contains a nesting of stories where each story is told till his half point, and then the next half is told in the same order as the first one, the movie uses a back and forth to connect the different stories where the core value of the characters is same in different stories.
