Act of Rebellion

Brian, Joe, Kalanzi, Katherine

In the future, everything is standardized and evaluated by tests, creativity is crime, and any opposing thought is an act of rebellion, punishable by death. One’s score on the tests throughout life determines whether they would enjoy a stable life and career or absolute neglect and poverty. In the midst of this censorship and totalitarian control, Lila, a young girl has always had a natural inclination to rebel. Ever since she was a child she has been considered a troubled child due to her natural instinct to question authority and imagine. One day, she meets an old man outside of a testing location, who reveals the truth of their society and makes sense of an unfortunate memory of abduction that had haunted Lila for years. This conversation inspires Lila to vocally and physically take action against her society. She recruits the lower class citizens who had felt the faults of the society to overthrow the President. Their army earned them the attention of government and compels the president to make a public service announcement. In the scene during the president’s monologue, concurrently, the climactic strike at various testing locations is happening. In this scene, teachers from across the nation are shown initiating tests to idle students. Eventually, the students all drop their pencils in a dramatic scene that concludes with law enforcement barging in and arresting thousands. The movie concludes with the parallel of the chaotic strike and riot and a conversation between Lila and the president in his office.