2081 (film)

"The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law, you see. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. And all this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of the United States Handicapper General. The strong wore weights to make them weaker. The intelligent wore earpieces that kept them from taking unfair advantage of their brains. Even the beautiful sometimes wore masks in situations where their beauty might simply be…too distracting. It was the Golden Age of Equality."

"Well, that's all right—he tried. Thats the important thing. I think he should get a nice big raise for trying so hard."

"Good evening. We've just received warning from the office of the Handicapper General that suspected-anarchist Harrison Bergeron has escaped from custody. Arrested six years ago for propagandist vandalism, broadcast piracy, refusal to report for his quarterly handicapping evaluations, and for the blatant removal of his handicaps in a public place, Mr. Bergeron had been awaiting trial in a maximum security prison here in Washington, D. C., when he, miraculously, disappeared from his cell earlier this evening. Please be advised that Bergeron is a genius and an athlete, is underhandicapped, and is considered extremely dangerous."

"My name is Harrison Bergeron. I am a fugitive, and a public threat. I am an abomination of the able. I am an exception to the accepted. I am the greatest man you have never known. And for the last six years, I have been held prisoner by the state—sentenced, without trial, to torture without end. They [the state and its henchmen] had hoped to destroy in me any trace of the extraordinary…but the extraordinary, it seems, was simply out of their reach. So now I stand before you today, beaten, hobbled, and sickened…but, sadly, not broken. And I say to you, that if it is greatness we must destroy, then let us drag our enemy out of the darkness, where it has been hiding. Let us shine a light so, at last, all the world can see!"

"But in a world where the extraordinary is outlawed, only the outlaws will be extraordinary"

"Everyone Will Finally Be Equal"

"Patricia Clarkson — the narrator"

"James Cosmo — George Bergeron, Harrison's father"

"Julie Hagerty — Hazel Bergeron, Harrison's mother"

"Armie Hammer — Harrison Bergeron"

"Tammy Bruce — the United States Handicapper General"

"David Healy — Replacement T.V. anchor"

"2081 is a short film based on the Kurt Vonnegut story "Harrison Bergeron." It gets right to the point, and nails the adaptation in about 25 minutes. That's got to be a record."

"The story is brutal, but she's hilarious."

"2081 is worth seeing. It's stirring and dramatic. But don't expect high fives and butt kicking at the end."

"I recently watched a little gem of a cinematic parable about a Rawlsian dystopia, 2081, which depicts a society in which "everyone is equal.""

"An expressionless, silent woman who is in charge of the operation takes a gun and kills Harrison Bergeson and the ballerina. The action is televised without her knowledge and one of the last things one sees is her slightly startled face staring into the camera. That is what Harrison wanted the nation to see—the vapid face of evil. End of broadcast. The extraordinary has been eliminated. Please stand by."

"The film is only twenty-five minutes long, but it packs a punch as terrible as Michael Radford's gritty, nearly two-hour long Nineteen Eighty-Four. The production values are as good as any $20 million budget blockbuster's. As a parable on the price of silence and the fate of those who prefer security and passivity over independence and freedom, it is one of the best films I have ever seen."