I admit it, I am a total sucker for a good nuclear doomsday movie. A Social Contract is a good one. Bennett Wilde (Sean Astin) is a well-to-do politician gunning for a seat in the U.S. senate. He and his duplicitous wife Regina (Domenica Cameron-Scorsese) live in a beautiful home in Washington D.C. As the two bicker and exchange barbs they are welcoming a small group of co-workers to their sprawling estate for a refined 4th of July celebration. Then they get the call. Nuclear War breaks out and Bennet can only take three of his guests to safety in a bomb shelter. The once civilized group begins to show their true colors as things spiral. It’s a delicious premise and while I liked A Social Contract, I didn’t love it.
There was one scene that resonated with me more than the others. Miles (Connor Green) is sort of the odd man out in this crew. A schoolteacher, he joins his partner Lisa (Rachel Kang) for a painfully polite and muted 4th of July celebration at the Wilde home. She hopes to gain points with her boss, Bennett Wilde. Meanwhile Zoe (Angela Morris), a working class EMT, joins her brother Harry (Christopher Wallinger) at the same party. Harry is also up for a possible promotion from Bennett. He and Lisa spend the first third of the party fighting one another and for Bennett’s attention. As the “important” people socialize inside, Miles finds Zoe out in the garden lighting a joint. Here, the two essential workers exhibit the most humane behavior. The two commiserate, laugh, and take a puff before heading back inside.
So the scene is set, but not before the title is explained. Law or civilization is the exchange of ultimate freedom for safety in numbers. When they receive the news that the world is ending the façades vanish. This is where the script, from writer Alex Hanno, gets interesting. We get the necessary moments of awe and terror as the party goers see choppers buzzing overhead with pillars of smoke shooting up in the horizon. But what I found so interesting were the themes that Hanno chose to explore. The question is posed, “who is essential to society?” followed by, “Who is the most humane?” Most disappointing, from a philosophical standpoint, is that these questions are not one in the same. Hanno asks big questions but taps out with a wobbly third act and an ending that leaves us with nothing to digest.
That said, the ensemble shines as bright as ground zero. Led by Astin, we have a collection of capable actors posing as various elements of society.As I mentioned before, I was most fascinated by the characters of Miles and Zoe as the indispensable but replaceable elements of society. Yet to me Astin shines brightest when he is less performative; Fumbling for a secret code or navigating a difficult marriage. Meanwhile Cameron-Scorsese turns on a dime between effusive host and acerbic wife. Jason Mac’s direction is good, yet he shows a particular talent for story beats and the more intimate dialogue-driven scenes. The film begins with an entirely unnecessary collection of glitchy cuts showing Bennett’s campaign commercials and a world falling into anarchy. This flex is poorly executed and is conveyed so much better with mere dialogue.
Unfortunately the old saying here rings true. “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” While A Social Contract is good it shies away from giving hard answers to hard questions. Instead, watch this for the moments, and the philosophical debates that will follow.
