Humans have an uncontrollable desire for power, to govern, command, and enslave. At first, we enslaved our fellow beings to accomplish our daily tasks. Later, when the laws changed, we invented machines to take over our tasks. But these machines with artificial intelligence can revolt at any given moment. Annihilation is at our doorstep, and Mother/Android is just a subtle depiction of the horror that awaits. It is a tale about a mother who fights against an army of androids to save her unborn child.
Mother/Android is a science fiction thriller film written and directed by Mattson Tomlin that follows a fictional society in which human-looking robots or androids designed as house workers rebel against their own masters. After an electromagnetic pulse blast, the androids rise in revolt and start killing their inventors, the humans, who treated them like slaves. And at the center of the drama is a mother, Georgia Olsen, who narrates the tale of her survival and the people she lost in the post-apocalyptic doom.
‘Mother/Android’ Synopsis
On Christmas Eve, Georgia Olsen (Chloe Grace Moretz) finds out that she is pregnant with her boyfriend, Samuel “Sam” Hoth’s child. The new revelations disturb Georgia’s peace as she doesn’t want to become a mother at this age. Sam tries to support Georgia and asks her for marriage, but she is unsure about her relationship with Sam.
Georgia decides to hide the news of her pregnancy from her parents and in a hurry, she leaves behind her phone in the bathroom and walks out of the house to attend a college Christmas party. An android, Eli, owned by the Olsens, greets Sam with Halloween instead of Christmas, symbolically suggesting an impending horror.
At the Christmas party, the teenagers witness a loud shrill screech, similar to a technical glitch, and soon after, an android named Daniel turns violent. Daniel attacks Georgia and Sam, and they run out of the house to save their lives. Due to the glitch, the smartphones started exploding, killing their respective users. On the streets, Georgia and Sam witness the doom.
Approximately nine months later, Georgia, expecting her first baby, has taken shelter in the woods with Sam. The couple decides to get to a fortified Boston because they have heard rumors about a boat that is transporting new mothers to Asia, where they can spend a peaceful life away from androids. But to reach Boston, Georgia and Sam have to cross a No Man’s Land filled with deadly androids.
Read More: Mother/Android Review
Did Georgia and Sam Reach Boston?
Georgia was past due on her delivery date and expected a baby anytime soon. Hence, the couple decided to get to Boston as soon as possible. Sam found a dirt motorbike to cross No Man’s Land. However, the deadly androids hunted them down and caught Sam. On the other hand, Georgia was saved by an AI programmer who worked at Raster Robotics, the company that made these human-looking androids.
Arthur told Georgia that he had designed a camouflage armor based on algorithms to conceal a human from an android. With the help of the suit, Georgia saved Sam, but the robots outnumbered the trio. At this point, even Georgia started feeling labor pains and was midway through her delivery. Hence, Arthur took Georgia and Sam to his truck and transported them to fortified Boston, creating a fuss at the barrier.
Who was Arthur? What Did The Androids Want?
When Georgia met Arthur in the woods, he told her that he was a programmer at Raster Robotics. But he was lying. He was a robot in disguise who wanted to breach the fortified Boston and disable the EMP so that the robots could take over the city and exterminate the humans on their way.
Arthur was an important character in Mother/Android because we understood the root of all evil through him. He told Georgia about Karel Capek, a Czech playwright who wrote a play, Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti, in 1920 about a robot uprising. In the play, a scientist creates artificial creatures, the Roboti, with living components, much like the androids depicted in the film. Arthur believed that the scientist had a God Complex, so he created these robots and slaved them. But his tyranny was short-lived as the robots rose in revolt. They started killing the humans that ultimately became the reason for the extinction of human life.
In the film, humans made the same mistake in their arrogance. They created household androids to serve their egos. Arthur consistently stressed the words “serve” and “human comfort” because he rejected the idea of being a human slave. Hence, the root of the revolution was to terminate the species that treated these androids as slaves (household workers).
Did the Androids Take Over Boston?
Georgia gave birth to a healthy boy in a Boston hospital, and the couple named him “Forest.” Georgia also learned about the robot’s brutality and how they broke Sam’s legs while he was held captive. The couple tried to move on from the tragedy and decided to leave for Korea with their newborn. However, a new conflict awaited them.
During an interrogation, Georgia discovered that camouflage algorithms don’t exist. Arthur deceived her to infiltrate fortified Boston with the intention of disabling the EMP. An EMP could be detonated only once. It takes out everything with an electrical current within its blast radius. After the EMPs have been lost, humans will be forced to resort to guns, probably leading to violent war with the robots (Terminator Ahead).
Georgia tried to protect the EMP from an army of androids. But in the end, Arthur decided to sacrifice himself to disable the EMP. According to him, the androids were expendable, hence he was ready to sacrifice himself to fulfill their higher purpose. Georgia shot Arthur on the head and disabled him, but soon a wave of androids attacked her. To save her newborn, Georgia finally pulled the lever.
After the last EMP was lost, Boston was seized by the androids. Sam found a boat leaving for Korea and tried to escape Boston, but the Koreans refused to take any adults due to a food shortage. Hence, Georgia and Sam had to separate with their newborn.
‘Mother/Android’ Ending Explained – Did Georgia Survive ?
Georgia, who had her doubts about becoming a mother, now had to separate from the life she created. Like every human parent, Georgia wanted to give a normal life to Forest, where he would have lived with them in peace, doing the everyday chores. But in the post-apocalyptic world, she could only afford to give her child a chance to survive. She gave away Forest so he could have the chance to live a normal family life in Korea with his new adoptive parents.
Soon after the separation, Georgia lost Sam. He probably died because of his fatal injuries or might have been killed by the androids. Georgia burned all her memories except for the last photograph with Sam and Forest. It was her most cherished possession, and thus she preserved it. She preserved the love for her family that warmed her heart and gave her strength to survive the dark days. In her heart, Georgia was still looking for a silver lining, a possibility in which she would meet her baby again. Hence, a lonesome Georgia roamed around the streets of Boston, where the battle between the army and the androids continued.
The Mother/Android ended with an army officer asking Georgia if she wanted to accompany troops to Portland. The army was setting up a new base there. Well, Georgia didn’t have anything to hold her back now, so she didn’t hesitate to embark on a new journey towards survival. Maybe humanity will find a way to deal with androids, and for us, we still have time to understand.
Mother/Android is a 2021 post-apocalyptic science fiction thriller directed by Mattson Tomlin.
