Based on the well-known novel by Dave Eggers, published in 2013 and a consolidated international success, the film offers us images of a future that is already around us. Unlike the great masterpieces of the past - we mention only two: Metropolis by Fritz Lang from 1927, and Blade Runner by Ridley Scott from 1982 - the themes addressed by this film are of burning relevance. While in the two films mentioned images and visions of a near future world were proposed which will later reveal themselves punctually, The Circle instead immediately takes us into contemporary news, starting from the direct reference with the new Apple headquarters in Cupertino, in the shape circle, the so-called “Steve Jobs spaceship”.
In this case we are talking about the management of personal data, with a telemedicine model that is already partially functional today; we talk about teledemocracy, and it takes us directly to the heart of how and how much complex social organizations can take concrete risks in the manipulation of big data on the individual and collective behavior of individuals; we are talking about cyber security and in recent days we have had yet another devastating demonstration of the structural, as well as cultural, weakness of the information systems that regulate the functioning of institutions and companies. Some sections of the film could have their own space, so much are they related to themes and problems that come to our attention every day. It deserves the quote: “… they know how to ask for forgiveness but not permission” referring to the risks and problems caused by the abuse of technology.
A few years ago there was talk of being connected, always and everywhere. Now all of this is present and around us. The film takes us precisely to the heart of this contemporaneity, where images seem to take on more value than any text: The Circle produces a camera capable of following us anywhere, even without our knowledge. Tom Hanks, in the figure of Eamon Bailey, a leader who looks so much like the well-known computer gurus, plays him well and is as convincing as the audience - mainly young people - who listen in ecstasy to his technosocial visions.
The closing lends itself well to a "moral" reading and raises questions that are not easy to solve: is technology good or bad? by whom and how are the "rules" of the computer game determined? To what extent will human beings be able to govern the artificial intelligence of robotics which is rapidly spreading? Of course, The Circle may not enter through the front door of the history of social fiction cinema, but it certainly adds an important piece of how much the big screen helps us to understand the present rather than intuit the future.
