The fun and relief we took with the third movie of the series is left in our tracks with “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes”. Because this fourth movie leaves those colorful streets of Los Angeles behind and throws us right into the middle of a dark, fascist and extremely angry dystopia. We are faced with arguably the most revolutionary, most political and harshest episode of the series. From Pets to Slavery The idea behind the film is one of the cleverest dystopian setups in science fiction cinema: When a virus from space destroys all cats and dogs, humanity fills the pet void with monkeys.
However, man’s dark nature and desire for domination soon come into play. Monkeys are no longer just pets, they are turned into a “slave class” where they throw garbage, clean, work as waiters and do the heaviest jobs. The sociological criticism here is very sharp: Humanity is programmed to create an “underclass” that will always exploit, oppress and subjugate in order to maintain its prosperity. The wheels of the system will only continue turning if someone is crushed under those wheels.
Anatomy of Rebellion and Caesar The film centers around Zira and Cornelius’ son Caesar, who is hidden and raised by the circus manager Armando. As Caesar sees with his own eyes this brutal slavery system to which his kind is subjected, the fire of awareness and revolution inside him gradually flares up. “Conquest” is actually a huge mirror held up to the America of the 1960s and 70s. Black people’s struggle for civil rights, racism and the famous Watts riots emerge from the subtext of the film and settle directly into its main text.
The monkey revolution initiated by Caesar is not an ordinary science fiction action; It is a legitimate struggle for existence by a class that has nothing to lose other than its chains, against the authority that sees itself as “property”. Fascist Police State Another striking element in the film is the point human society has reached. The dogmatic and caste-based structure established by the monkeys in the first movie has now turned into a technological police state established by humans.
Security forces in black uniforms, torture centers and streets under constant surveillance… Humanity gave up its own freedom and surrendered to a totalitarian regime in order to keep the species it enslaved under control. Conclusion No aliens, laser guns or distant galaxies; there are only batons, riot fires and street battles. “Conquest of the Planet of the Apes” is an extremely angry science fiction that is open to Marxist readings, telling how the oppressed can turn into an unstoppable force when they come together.
The most shocking depiction of humanity’s overthrow from its arrogant throne, and its overthrow by the slaves it created.
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