Snowpiercer: Movie vs Book

In the midst such a harshly white winter, it seems like a good time to revisit one of the most talked about movies of last winter. No no, I don't mean Frozen. Snowpiercer is the rare post-apocalyptic action movie that does something original. It is pretty unusual, and occasionally over the top, but worth a look. Be warned, I discuss a few spoilers.

The only survivors of a new ice age are stuck on a very long train that continually circles the planet on a very long track, in the hope of someday finding livable land. The backstory of how an attempt to counteract global warming resulted in the world freezing is briefly summarized in a few words of text at the beginning, and delved into more during a classroom scene halfway through. I was glad they didn't tack on the opening and closing monologues that Harvey Weinstein wanted, as that would have patronized the audience too much.

Chris Evans plays the protagonist, Curtis, who has been living in the neglected tail section and makes his way forward through the train cars to confront the oppressors at the front. In contrast with Evans' more famous character Captain America, Curtis often insists that he is not a leader, but of course he proves otherwise. In order to get further in the train, Curtis rescues Namgoong, a security expert, from the prison section. Nam is played by Song Kang Ho, who had previously worked with director Joon-ho Bong on the Korean monster movie The Host. The most prominent antagonist, Mason, is played by a heavily uglified Tilda Swinton, in comical coke bottle glasses and buck teeth.

Curtis confronts the reality of the class inequality between the tail and the front cars of the train. While the tail section eats protein bars made of insects, further along are sustainable food supplies that would be plenty to be distributed. The tail section has cramped, filthy quarters while their counterparts live cleanly and comfortably.

I didn't notice during the credits for Snowpiercer that it was based on a graphic novel, but one of the benefits of working in a library is sometimes I notice books or media that I wouldn't have known existed. So one day a patron was checking out the two volumes of the English translation of Le Transperceneige, and having enjoyed the movie I wanted to check out its source material.  I came to realize the film only takes the basic framework of the book; the idea of the Snowpiercer on its neverending track, the class inequality throughout, and a leader who worships the perpetual motion engine that keeps the train moving. It doesn't use any of the same character names and tells an original story overall.

The first volume, written in 1982 by Jacques Lob and subtitled The Escape, tells a fairly straightforward story of a rebellious tail section inhabitant and his female companion. Proloff and Belleau have their heads shaved and are accused of spreading a virus to the rest of the train after leaving the tail section, but although they may be carriers, they show no symptoms. It's somewhat predictable when they fall in love. The main plot driver here is that the train is slowing down and the leaders plan to disconnect the tail section from the train, and don't want the inhabitants to know they don't plan to evacuate it first. Ultimately, Proloff is convinced to become the new caretaker of the engine for the rest of his life.

The second volume of Snowpiercer, The Explorers, was written by Benjamin Legrand between 1999 and 2000 after original writer Jacques Lob died. This part actually depicts the adventures of a second train on the same worldwide track, sometimes called the Icebreaker, but other times referred to as Snowpiercer 2. Clearly this would be the simplest model for making a sequel to the film, as there would be no obligation to use the same actors but there could still be a reference to Curtis having existed and the change he brought to the underprivileged. The leadership on the Icebreaker constantly conduct "braking tests" and keep the inhabitants fearful of a head on collision with the original Snowpiercer. It is later revealed that there is a personal aircraft on board that can scout ahead, and that there is a second engine that can pull the train in reverse, so the reality is there has never been danger of that collision. One part that was especially preposterous was a trek off the track over a frozen body of water, to seek the source of music that is heard on the radar. However I was impressed that this volume told such a different story using the same post-apocalyptic train premise.

One thing that made the graphic novel a little hard to get through was the style of the word balloons, which were all connected by white space so I was sometimes unsure which character was speaking. For all I know, this may be common in French comics. The fact that it's entirely black and white and often violent reminded me of The Walking Dead comics. The source material for Snowpiercer is definitely not essential for fans of the movie since the content is so different, but it was interesting to think about how the director used the premise and the themes to fuel his own vision.