Sleeper (1973) is a science fiction comedy by Woody Allen. After being cryogenically frozen, a man from 1973 is woken up two hundred later to find a world with an abundance of comfort and robots but ruled by a ruthless dictator. The story is about whether he will fit into this world? Will he find his love? which has been told with a humorous style. Even after five decades, I found the film enjoyable, it gets my Ripe rating.
The plot of a dictator and revolutionaries reminded me of Mr Allen‘s earlier film Bananas (1971). Woody Allen was at his best when he dresses up as a Robot and walks stiffly. In the scene where Miles (Woody Allen) goes looking for food to eat while hiding in the outskirts, he sees several metres long vegetables & fruits that are engineeringly grown, his acts to pluck and carry them were hilarious – the background music and movements felt like a tribute to the legendary Charlie Chaplin.
In a story that happens in the future (2173), it was amusing to see the technology developments they got it right fifty years ago and those they got wrong. Like, video calls are already ubiquitous in 2021. Robots maids and servants, levitating cars and cryogenic reactivations are still far away. Computers being operated with physical switches, knobs, relays & magnetic tapes everywhere looks funny today as they have long been replaced with keyboards, touch screens and solid-state storage.
Sleeper (1973) – Woody Allen & Diane Keaton
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