I was surprised by the movie What Happened to Monday, mostly because I thought it was going to be lighthearted and somewhat comedic. I don’t know why I expected that, especially since I was told that it was about a dystopian society and was warned multiple times that it would be graphic. Anyway, I’m just too squeamish for this kind of thing.

When Thursday loses part of a finger, the grandfather moves to replicate the injury on the rest of the sisters. Monday asks if it’s going to hurt. He says yes. Later on, Thursday watches a little girl as she’s about to be “frozen.” The little girl asks the woman assisting with the procedure if it’s going to hurt.  The woman says no. The woman gives her an injection, and the girl winces. Then, of course, the woman continues to murder her. I thought that the contrast between those two scenes was interesting.

It’s similar to a lot of things about the regime. The lie is suspicious, but the alternative is scary. So, people want it to be true, and they don’t question it too much. The regime continues to put out propaganda and appeasing explanations. Citizens aren’t offered much of a choice, so defiance is very dangerous.

When faced with a difficult choice, both the grandfather and the child allocation bureau make a decision that they believe is right. The grandfather is willing to hurt the sisters to keep them safe in the long run. The child allocation bureau believes that by sacrificing part of the population that the whole of the population can be ‘saved.’ Monday gives up her old family in an attempt to save her new family. In the end, everything that each decision-maker was hiding comes to light.