Cast: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Jim Sturgess Directors: Andy Wachaowski, Lana Wachaowski, Tom Tykwer Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi Rating: 4/5

“Fear, belief and love are the phenomenon that determines the courses of our lives. These forces begin long before we are born and continue even after we perish.” Cloud Atlas, based on a novel by David Mitchell, meditates around this notion to give a bizarre piece of cinema that is destined to generate polarizing views from the viewers. You may either hate it, or you may find yourself head over heels in love with it!

Cloud Atlas is a daringly original piece of cinema that is so ambitious in its shot that it can even make ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ go limp on its knees. The movie follows an arc of six stories sprawling over centuries of mankind and comments on how each and every choice we make have repercussions that resonate forever in the valleys of lives of those who surround us.

Through those brilliantly portrayed stories, it is shown that our lives are not just our own. I quote from the movie, “We are bound to others, past and present; and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.”

It took three maverick directors to stage this enormous movie that redefines genres. The passion, with which the theme of reincarnation is handled by the trio, is the driving force behind this awe-inspiring piece of cinema. Cloud Atlas elevates on its surface of philosophy and hits consecutive home runs with the climax of each and every story.

As everything falls into the canvas, one is surprised at the enormity of the space these three individuals yearned to color on the screen.

Tom Hanks, take a bow! The wisdom carried by his eyes at the end sequence was enough to expose the level of grandiose this man has reached in his career. Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving and the rest of the ensemble casts raises the platform of story-telling into dizzying dimensions. Terrific makeup all around the screen ensures that the various personas are never the same, yet never ever different.

The sole problem of Cloud Atlas lies in its emotional quotient. When the audience is setting all the pieces of this puzzle in the desired manner, somehow, the emotive sequences are lost in the mist.

Maybe, just maybe, the complexity of a story-line and the poignant parts do not go hand in hand with each other.

To sum the parts, Cloud Atlas is a daring and audacious attempt that has the power to change preconceived notions and cultivate debates among your fellow cine-nuts. It may test your patience, but the one who stays with it, will be rewarded generously. It is, in the end, a cinematic achievement.