It is not often that a film can shift your position of awareness and perception of reality like the masterpiece Fantastic Planet. Originally released as La Planete Sauvage, since it was a Czech film that receiving French financial backing, it is a surreal journey through quantum reality and creates an introspective mindset with respect to who we really are.
The film takes place on an alien planet called Ygam, where a highly advanced race of sentient and intelligent beings called Traags live in rather emotionless peace. This race of beings spends most of its time in meditation. This meditation that the Traags do is envisioned as their consciousness leaving their bodies and flying in fantastic bubbles to the moon of the planet, where they fix themselves on giant headless statues that are in human form. Once they do this, they perform a rather bizarre dance that seems to be the way they procreate. These beings can also modify and distort their bodies in a process they simply call Imagination. A very surreal site, indeed. One other important aspect of these beings is that they have devices that are used as headsets, with which they listen to and immeditatley download into their brain the collective database of knowledge for their race, which is in recent times said to be possible in the next few decades by quantum physicists. It also can be compared to the accessing of the universal knowledge base of all that ever existed, through what is called the Akashic Records, which any soul can access through astral projection.
This race of beings lives in peace and comfort, with no worries minus the existence of a miniature race of beings called the Oms. The Oms look just like human beings and, in the film, are used as pets by the Traag children. This race of beings was brought back to the planet Ygam from a planet called Terra. The Oms are treated more like household pets than sentient and self-aware intelligent beings. Oms are a race that breeds very rapidly in the wild and partake in destructive and debilitating acts such as destroying things and stealing. As a result, the Oms are exterminated from time to time through a practice called de-Oming. Some of the Traags question this technique, since they believe from what they have seen on the Om home planet of Terra, that they possess organized life which demonstrates some sort of intelligence and should not be treated as animals.
Symbolism and Parallels
Once one views this film several times, or even once, it can be seen that there are several striking parallels made between this surreal world, and the reality we perceive ourselves to live in. First, let us examine the name of the miniature human-looking people. They are called Oms. Om is the representation of the impersonal Absolute, or Source of All that Is. Ultimate Reality in its manifest existence is represented by this word and symbol. It is unclear why the race that is a clear representation of the human race, is called Om, but the use of such a sacred sound and symbol is mystical enough in itself to be used in a film.
Another aspect to reflect on is the use of the word Terra as the name of the planet from which the Oms (humans) are from. Terra is the latin word for earth, the planet humans live on. Therefore, it is safe to assume that this story is about an advanced alien race coming to earth and abducting humans in order to use them for their own needs and wants.
A third point worth noting is the Traag form of meditation. Meditation is not often discussed in films so this movie stands out in that respect. However, the method of meditation is also very peculiar. They transport their consciousness out of their bodies (which can be compared to an out of body experience) and fly to the moon of their home planet where they partake in a mating dance (which can be compared to astral sex or spiritual sex).
All in all, Fantstic Planet is a surreal, psychedelic, and fascinating dive into consciousness and reality. It serves as an allegorical film with esoteric meanings that must be looked for in order to be found, or at the very least, have an open mind to be able to think outside the box in order to see what lies beneath the visually stunning masterpiece.
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