Review: What Happened to Monday

Set in a dystopian future, not that far from ours, What happened to Monday is a story about a broken society, the bond of sisterhood and the dangers of living on the fringe.

It starts as a dramatic documentary about how if we do not change our ways we will have no chance of survival, but you soon realise it is going a little too far even for us.

Overpopulation and severe shortages in resources force world leaders to place the world’s future in the hands of science. Due to scientific overdoing and unforeseen side effects, children are born in multiples and with birth defects. That is when the ‘One Child Allocation Act’ comes into the view, but you can only seem to think about China’s Family Planning Policy of 1979.

Seven twin sisters are born in this crumbling society, but they are forced into hiding because siblings are a privilege nobody is allowed. The primary authority holding everything in place seems to be the C.A.B. (Child Allocation Bureau), who enforces obedience with militarised check-points and assault teams. The sisters’ grandfather (Willem Dafoe), who happens to have all the knowledge and resources required to trick the system into hiding his granddaughters, raises them to be the single identity of Karen Settman (Noomi Rapace). That is, at least when they need to interact with the outside world.

The sisters in private are named after the seven days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They all have different personalities, attitudes toward one another, Karen, and the world. They survive by abiding to a rigorous routine and Karen Settman’s strict identity.

But something happens to upset this millimetric survival scheme. After her workday, Monday disappears. In an attempt to find out what happened, the leftover sisters entangle themselves in a mouse-and-cat chase with the C.A.B., which obviously does not end well for either.

With little references to before-seen situations and events scattered around, you keep on expecting the big NO WAY moment that the trailer promised you. But between the sisters’ squabbles, the fight scenes, the Berlin style check points and the super high technology, the plot keeps on thickening, leaving the audience with more questions than answers. The one thing you know for sure is that something is definitely off.

In the midst of the every day hide-and-seek, the fight scenes and the bad luck storm the sisters have entered, there is a hint of romance. A very twisted and bizarre hint, but you realise it is vital for the plot, so much so that it probably should have been in the foreground just a bit more.

In this cross between action and dramatic post-apocalyptic movie, the fight scenes still seem to be somewhat far fetched. How can sheltered city girls take on mercenaries? The SWAT teams sent in by the antagonist, the genius scientist Dr Nicolette Cayman (Glenn Close) and director of the C.A.B, really struggle to overpower the six (or less) sisters. The scientist is the big shot policy-making leader who seems to have feelings for those who suffer, but is the first one in line to push the metaphorical kill button. Her promise is a better and safer future, one where all the siblings recovered during the sweeps and put under cryosleep will one day live. But there is a plot twist.

I have to admit, however, that the Noomi Rapace’s prowess and ability are not diminished by all of this. She has some mad skills representing the seven twins. Each one of them has a clear personality portrayed wonderfully. And it is not just a matter of personality but of traits, body cues and attitudes.

Still, at some point during your viewing you realise it is almost never ending, and for how it has gone so far. You feel in your gut there is going to be a shocking, but not well supported, plot-twist that is going to leave you only with disbelief. Throughout the whole movie you wait for the issue at hand, overpopulation and scarcity of primary resources, to be taken into real consideration and to be explored, but all it does is dissapointinly show the various different shots that you come to expect in an action movie.

My advice is: if you have one-hundred-and-twenty-three minutes to kill, or if you want to switch off your brain, or if you feel like having very low expectations, then this is the movie for you. If you wanted something more engaging, then you need to keep on looking for something different.