Movie Review and Critique for “Songbird”

I Will Admit, I Like Movies…

Not too long ago, I wrote a page about the soon-to-be-released movie, “Songbird,” speaking about the predictive programming aspects of the movie regarding lockdowns, COVID-19, and what may be in store for all of us in the future. I used this movie because it was soon to be released and was amazingly blatant in the scope of what it seems to be saying, but I could have chosen any number of other movies to make the point about predictive programming and how it is used.

But Why This One?

The issue about “Songbird,” and another reason I chose to use it in a page before seeing the movie, something that really struck me was how a major motion picture was somehow produced in the amount of time it was claimed to be, during a time when Hollywood was supposedly shut down. The Covid pandemic was not a major issue until December of 2019, yet this movie was supposedly written, cast, and produced somehow in the time since. There were also rumors heard from Rachel Reenstra about one of the actors, Craig Robinson, supposedly being in a different country at the time the film was made. So being a guy that has always loved movies, of course when I was able to watch it, at the cost of twenty dollars for a rental, I went ahead and did it both for the entertainment, and to be able to write this review.

Spoiler…

I am going to give a rundown of the movie in this post, so of course, I am going to spoil the plot, but that does not change the fact that this movie is worth watching. I am speaking of course in the terms of pure entertainment, and not in any way referring to the “predictive programming” aspect of the movie, although I will touch on that in this post. Truth is, if you are a person that likes science fiction dystopian films that are made well, with decent acting, then this movie is worth checking out. The characters are believable, the plot is solid, and there are enough twists that keep you interested through the film. The end has a message all on its own, that we will talk about when we get there.

So, What Is It About?

The basic premise for the plot of “Songbird” is that in the year 2024, a mutation of the Covid virus called “Covid-23” has begun to infect the brains of people and has become far more deadly than the current virus is now. Most of the general population is still in lockdown after two hundred and thirteen weeks, or four years and the people are forced to do temperature and virus checks through their phones twice a day. If someone fails their temperature check, the “Department of Sanitation” puts them under house arrest under the threat of death until they can be transported to a “quarantine zone.” There is a segment of the population that is immune, and known as “munies,” and some of them work as couriers. Deliveries are made through sterilization airlocks, as the new Covid virus is now airborne to the point where breathing outside air can allow you to become infected. The “munies” are known for their highly coveted yellow wristbands that are digitally coded to the person’s identity, identifying them as “immune,” and this is a major plotline in the movie.

The Main Characters…

The main characters in the movie are “Nico,” and “Sara,” played by KJ Apa, and Sofia Carson. Sara lives in an apartment with her grandmother, and Nico is a courier that works for “Lester,” played by Craig Robinson. Nico and Sara are in love and are making plans to get away as soon as they can, you know when things go back to “normal.”. You are left to assume the couple met through Nico’s route, but you are told that they have never been in the same room together, and they spend much of the movie pining through Sara’s front door. Lester, Nico’s boss, spends his time tracking his couriers through G.P.S. and sometimes, drones, the drone service being provided by the wheelchair-bound “Dozer,” an Afghanistan war veteran played by Paul Walter Hauser. Dozer enjoys watching the live streams of a singer named “May,” played by Alexandra Daddario. May is not native to California but was lured there by the typical shady record producer, “William Griffin,” played by Bradley Whitford, with whom she has a sexual relationship, despite William being married to “Piper Griffon,” played by Demi Moore. William and Piper have an immune-compromised daughter, and somehow, although you are never really told how, they can obtain the yellow bracelets that give people the ability to travel during the martial law because they are immune. They also have a relationship with the murderous psychopath head of the “Sanitation Department, “Emmett Harland,” very creepily played by Peter Stormare.

Ok, All Caught Up…

The real story in “Songbird” begins when Sara’s grandmother starts to cough one night, and the clock begins to tick until the temperature check in the morning. Sara calls Nico, who in turn calls Lester to inquire as to where he might obtain fake yellow bracelets. Lester reluctantly informs Nico that William, who Nico has been delivering to for a while, has the hook-up for getting the yellow bracelets. Nico then calls William, right in the middle of an argument William and Piper are having about William’s affair with May, and this causes Piper to further question William’s loyalty to her and their daughter. Piper takes over the phone call and tells Nico that she can help him out and gives him the contact for Emmet, the sanitation guy, who has shown his fondness for randomly stabbing people at this point in the movie. In one scene Emmet stabs a guy with a switchblade after the guy gets out of the quarantine zone for no reason whatsoever, and later in the movie, confesses to Nico about how he became the boss after all his supervisors died off in a way that shows you, he truly enjoys his power over life and death. The meeting between Emmet and Nico turns out to be a set up orchestrated by Piper in order to cover her tracks, but Nico ends up, ironically, stabbing him in the neck with a pencil.

Meanwhile…

At this point in the movie, Piper knows about William’s affair with May and has pulled William’s own gun on him, then instructed him to clean up the situation, thinking May is the one that has leaked their names regarding selling fake yellow wristbands. May, who has established a fledgling relationship with Dozer at this point, is leaving to go to Dozer’s house when William pulls up to her. As he is beating on her window trying to get in, a drone fires a round and eliminates William. Dozer then tells May “I always have your six.” Sara’s grandmother, meanwhile, has passed away, and Nico has decided to return to William’s house to get a wristband.

Piper…

At the same time Nico arrives at William’s house, Lester realizes where he is via G.P.S. and calls Piper to inform her that Nico is “in her house.” Piper gets William’s gun and proceeds to sweep the house. She finds Nico and confronts him, at which point he pleads his case, and she decides to help him with a yellow bracelet. He gets the bracelet programmed with Sara’s information and leaves to get Sara. Sara, meanwhile, has her own problems as the Sanitation Department has arrived to deal with her grandmother. Sara uses a baseball bat to knock out a worker and steal his uniform, but Emmet realizes what has happened and raises the alarm. When Nico arrives, he finds Piper and deals with Emmet before escaping.

So…

Hopefully, I have left enough out to make the movie still have some surprises so it is still worth watching because, for entertainment, it really is, but I also hope I have given you a rundown of the plot enough so I can make some observations. First, it seems plain that there is an outline of how things could easily become, should “lockdowns” continue, and forced vaccines and government observation through phone apps begin. Emmet becoming the “head” of the Sanitation Department just because his supervisors died, to me was a scary take on bureaucrats. It reminded me of the Nazis, and stories I remember about people that had innocent jobs, like librarians, before world war two, but ended up being ruthless killers in the war. The “mutation” in the movie, to us, is something relevant regarding another point in the movie. At the end of the film, you hear on the radio that Piper is an “internet influencer,” as the newscaster tells you that she turned her husband in for selling the wristbands. In another scene, right before the final confrontation with Nico, Emmet tells Sara that she needs to pay attention, as she has no symptoms after being in the apartment with her grandmother, and that she is immune. She says, “Well let me go then,” to which Emmet responds, “It is not that easy…”

Again, So?

To us, beyond the apparent laying out of possible future lockdown scenarios, this movie had one very big message in it that seemed important but could easily be missed. In the end, when you are being told that Piper turned William in to the authorities for selling the bracelets, you are given the idea that somehow, there was a lot more going on. This is reinforced by the statement made by Emmet regarding Sara’s immunity when he says it is not that easy to just let her go. The fact that Sara was immune the entire time leads me to think that there is a statement being made about the true deadliness of the disease, just as there are questions about the current Covid pandemic. The final scenes of the movie lead me to think that once the corrupt players, in this case, William and Piper, were removed, the situation then sorted itself out without the need for the drastic measures taken by the Sanitation Departments throughout the movie. When the corrupt people are removed, life seems to take on some normalcy at the end of the movie.

Seems Like Real Monsters Are Always People…