“The world’s governments and scientists have decided to reduce the human population by 20% to address serious issues. The report is part of the Athens Accord, an international agreement that was created to address the man-made crisis,” reports the voiceover in the 2024 Psychological Horror film Humane. A dystopian satire from Caitlin Cronenberg (David Cronenberg’s daughter), in her feature debut, Humane was released in theaters on April 26th by IFC Films, before becoming available for streaming via Shudder on July 26th.
Starring Jay Baruchel (How to Train Your Dragon 2010, Goon 2011), Emily Hampshire (12 Monkeys series, Schitt’s Creek series), Peter Gallagher (Titanic 1996, Grace and Frankie series), Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars series, Flashpoint series), Sebastian Chacon (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels series, Y2K 2024), Alanna Bale (Enhanced 2019, Kicking Blood 2021), Sirena Gulamgaus (Hellmington 2018, Transplant series), and Uni Park (The Art of War 2000, Strangers in a Room 2023), Humane tells of in the wake of an environmental collapse that is forcing humanity to shed 20% of its population, a family dinner erupts into chaos when a father’s plan to enlist in the government’s new euthanasia program goes awry.
Humane has shades of Paul Verhoeven’s 1997 Sci-Fi Dramedy Starship Troopers in that there are news reports of the state of things globally as opposed to intergalactically, both with biting social commentary on man’s fix for what man caused. Both deal with a specific group’s survival, but whereas Starship Troopers ultimately revolves around a military company tasked with the survival of the world, Humane revolves around a family imploding in the face of another body having to be offered up “by contract,” which the others were not privy to…until it was put in their faces.
It has been said before, that any time kids are involved, the horror quotient goes up exponentially. Humane is no exception, in fact, maybe it is even more so since the opening newsreel shows a kid in the euthanasia lines at the pop-ups around the country. Given that, it stands to reason that the York youngest, Sirena Gulamgaus’ Mia’s fair game…until Enrico Colantoni’s Bob, the Department of Citizen Strategy rep tasked with collecting the bodies on this particular run, intervenes saying children’s exempt. With that, Jay Baruchel’s Jared, Emily Hampshire’s Rachel, Sebastian Chacon’s Noah, Alanna Bale’s Ashley, and Uni Park’s Dawn are left…but, where is Dawn?
Enter the backbiting and one-upping of who is deserving of the inevitable inheritance to be had by the survivors as you are shown the immensity of the house exterior periodically while the posturing and scheming go on throughout the house. Ever materialistic and obviously with their own agendas for their futures, each plays down their sibs’ worth. However, this begs the question, if they were given the means to do anything they wanted with their lives, why haven’t they?
You are led to believe Jared’s the golden child following in his dad’s footsteps, but Rachel’s the most vociferous as she calls out each sib on their ineptitude while overlooking her own. Ashley, and especially Noah, who gets around using a crutch, mostly observes and interjects sparingly. All the while Mia and Bob are mentally sparing about ideology, doing whatever is based on said ideology, and doing what they think is right despite, say, mandates that say 20% of the population has to die. Of course, Bob’s compartmentalized it that it is a paying job, and if unsuspecting people get caught in the crosshairs, which happens in front of the Yorks, they are just collateral damage. This is a changing point for the family.
Given Humane is Caitlin Cronenberg’s feature debut and it is a beautifully shot movie, but indie nonetheless, this means it was presumably made on a low budget, and there is room to grow. She has an eye for intimacy, if not conspiratorial intimacy where Humane is concerned. Looking at Starship Troops again as a comparison, Humane seems more tongue-in-cheek with over-the-top acting with no redeeming qualities, at least for Jared and Rachel, Ashley and Noah have to learn survival of the fittest. Of course, how an individual responds to an experience or situation is subjective, so again, acting needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Not everybody will get that and be forgiving. People have to be put in a position to empathize with someone else, unfortunately. Still, Cryptic Rock gives Humane 4 of 5 stars.
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