Death and Human Dilemmas: Creating Sympathy for the Characters in Romanek's 'Never Let Me Go' Anonymous 12th Grade

Mark Romanek explores the difficult choices that people make when faced with death in his film Never Let Me Go (2010). He explores the raw human emotions of jealousy and forgiveness through the characterisation of Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Kathy (Carey Mulligan). When faced with death, it is common to act out towards the people you care about, with this concept developed through the character of Ruth. However, people also want to forgive and be forgiven. These conflicting choices and subsequent actions that the characters’ face is crucial to the film. The dystopic storyline of cloning humans for their organs is so far removed from the audience’s own experiences, that they feel apathy for the characters. To counter this, the director successfully humanises Kathy and Ruth by placing them in situations that many people have also experienced, allowing the viewers to connect with the film emotionally. In doing so, Romanek positions them to question the ethics behind organ farming, as the characters express very human qualities rather than acting as faceless objects.

Romanek explores the human emotion of jealousy, particularly in the face of death, and how it is difficult to reverse the consequences. This emotion is illustrated by...