After a series of stressful projects I took a vacation as a gift for myself. I stayed at home, and pampered myself with movies. Well, I find movies as an alternative to reading — the activity which my grade school teacher, Mr. Avelino Pacamarra, defines as a “magic carpet that leads to new worlds, more adventures, more experiences and additional knowledge”. So I watched movies some boring, some intriguing, some funny until I stumbled upon WALL-E, one of Pixar’s latest creations.

The scenes unfolded with one cute robot (Wall-E, short for “Waste Allocation Load Lifter -Earth Class ) doing what he had been programmed to do — gathering, compacting and stacking trash. From time to time, through artificial intelligence, he would select things that he can use for his self-repair or for his enjoyment.

The setting was a planet where trash and other discards are thrown similar to that of the movie Soldier, starred by Kurt Russel in 1998. So I thought. But as the story progressed, it was actually earth, a post apocalyptic earth — abandonado, tapukan ki basura, warang tubig asin may regular na dust storm.

The earth was un-inhabited and only this lone robot survives. Well, igwa man palan ki ipis. But apart from the forgotten robot and the cockroach, only garbages exists… until one day, a spaceship came. May iniluwas ining sarong ovoid robot na ang pangaran si Eve. But WALL-E calls her “Eve-a”. Eve is armed and dangerous but after a time, WALL-E was able to prove that he is not an enemy. They became friends (do robots make friends also?) and WALL-E gave Eve a plant. Ito siguro an misyon ni Eve kaya as soon as she received the plant and placed it in her compartment, she became immobile. After a long wait, WALL-E decided to bring Eve outside to be picked-up by the spaceship. Ang kasunod, naki-hitch si WALL-E sa spacehip na pinapadalagan kan B&L (Buy and Large).

Sa spaceship palan na ito naka-istar su mga tawo na warang ka-aram-aram manungod sa mundo. And they have been in that stellar ship for centuries asin siniserbisyuhan lang kan mga robots. I won’t discuss the details as I might pre-empt future viewers. Hilingon na sana nindo ta baka malugi an Disney Pixar.

The whole movie is an animation and is for general patronage. Sabi kan padihon ko, sa trailer pa lang urugmahon na su mga aki niya. But like Tom and Jerry (or even more thatn T&J), the movie has subliminal messages being conveyed — at least to the adult viewers. And these are the dangers of capitalism — far than what Adrian Remodo discussed in Mga Palatakot nin Kapitalismo.

The movie shows how one company rose to power, encouraged consumerism and ended up ruining the environment. The monopoly was stronger than what Karl Marx ever thought of. I am not sure if this followed Lenin’s “Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism” for the only thing certain is that the human beings went to a space cruise and lived there for centuries. Generations come and go until nobody was not familiar anymore of the planet called earth, or at least knowledgeable of what the earth is all about.

And the ruin was not just a ruin like what happened to Cagsawa in 1814. The earth was actually defaced and became more than a Smokey Mountain. No water exists — only garbage and periodic duststoms. Kaya ngani hona ko sarong colonial planet na arog kan sa Soldier. And this is all because of the lack of care for the environment coupled with consumerism.

Pixar was very creative in doing the movie. Hopefully, the viewers and would-be viewers will not just look at the animation and filmography but also at the message of the the movie as well. Capitalism and consumerism has a price. And this becomes worst when coupled with greed. And if uncurtailed, the price may include the earth…

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