GATTACA Questions (1 Viewer)

[David Ruiz]

Hi Everyone,
I had a couple of questions regarding the movie GATTACA. Ok, I'm a little bit confused as to who the "watcher" was in the movie. (The guy that is always watching Ethan Hawke take a piss in the cup). Every time that Ethan takes a piss, the "Watcher" tells him about his "SON". At the very end of the movie, he says that his son was "Not all that they promised". Is he Jerome Morrow's (Jude Law) Dad? Jerome is the guy in the wheel chair.
The reason I think this, is because the "Watcher" seems to know an awful lot about how Jerome is RIGHT handed (Ethan's character is left handed).
I'd appreciate any info you can give me on this.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Moving over to Movies...

 

[Tim Hoover]

Well, that guy is basically the company doctor, and gives periodic urine tests to check the validity of the employees. I think he picked up hints that Ethan's character was not who he claimed to be through the left-handed thing and Ethan's attitude towards blood testing. I also believe that the doctor had a natural-born son, and he was trying to relate to Ethan's character because the doctor wanted his son to succeed and not be discriminated against because of his natural birth.
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I'm a Dapper Dan man!

 

[Alex Spindler]

I had a similar take, but I thought that the doctor had a genetically engineered son who had turned out to be less than promised. So he was skewed against genetic profiling and admired Jerome/Vincent for his ability to succeed in that society.
I think it was a wonderful way to end the movie. It helped to cement the feel that not everyone believed in the edict that you are what you're engineered to be.
Great movie, BTW. I think I may have to spin that again this weekend.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Yes, he was the company doctor in charge of genetic testing, etc. He quickly had picked up on Ethan's BS, but had been covering for him (this next part is IMO) because his own NATURALLY born son had also been excluded by the tests and scores.
He saw Ethan as a hero to his own son, as a sign of hope and rebellion against a system that didn't make sense to him either.
Didn't the doc even mention his son admiring him at the end? Boy, I can't remember really.

 

[Calvin Cullen]

The doctor's son was clearly not conceived naturally. His genetic manipulation must have been slightly botched somewhere along the line (ie he was "not all that THEY promised"). Later testing probably revealed this.