Bladerunner

Ok..Im not a big Science Fiction fan,but Bladerunner is one such movie that has made an impact on me to a large extent.For the uninitiated,Bladerunner is Ridley Scott's adaptation of Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"made in 1982 starring Harrison Ford,Rutger Huer,Edward James Alomos and Sean Young. The movie wasn't very well received initially and people did not quite like the dark, foreboding feel that the movie gave.However, in recent years more and more people have seen the movie and liked it;in fact it is hailed as a cult film of sorts.Not just the movie,but even the soundtrack composed gy Greek maestro Vangelis has been heralded as one of the greatest musical scores ever written.There is also a story around the soundtrack itself which I will get to later on..

Los Angeles,November 2019
Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, an ex-Bladerunner who's job was to find rogue replicants(androids built by the Tyrell Corporation to serve as man's slaves on off-world colonies;they were not supposed to possess any emotions) and retire (read terminate) them.The movie is not so much about Deckard's encounters with the rogues he's supposed to be hunting down or about his love affair with another Replicant Rachel(Sean Young)..when you finish seeing the film, the primary question that props up is where are we heading?Is this what our future is going to look like? Roy Batty (Rutger Huer;the rogue replicant leader) tells Deckard after sparing his life that
he wanted Deckard to experience what it feels being a slave.Replicants were designed without emotional capabilities;but the movie projects the fact that even androids can develop emotions over time. The movie was path-breaking in the sense that it has devised our present by showing it to us nearly 25 years ago. LA citizens claimed that their city can never be as dark as the movie shows it to be but surprisingly, that's how its turned out today.Bladerunner was also released with different versions; I have seen the Director's Cut released back in 1992 which raises the much debated question concerning Deckard's replicant nature.( Scott hints that Deckard himself is a replicant but Ford played the character as a human and till today, there has been no official clarification)The film also raises questions about man's domination in this world and whether it is deserved or not.Each of us can draw our own conclusions after seeing the movie and believe me, the amount of trivia that one can come across is endless...
What prompted me to see the movie was the soundtrack.My dad being(and still is) a big soundtrack collector bought home the "official" version of the music score back in the late 80s;turns out it is actually an orchestral adaptation of Vangelis' original composition. Vangelis quoted contractual difficulties at the time of the movie's release and had to to wait till 1994 to realease his work.Now people have rated his work way over the orchestral adaptation,but my ears having been exposed to the earlier version , I felt that both were equally good.Though the official release contains music that was never used in the movie, it has a nice jazz feel to it and it is reminiscent of my childhood when dad would play it in the evenings after coming back from work.(He too loves this soundtrack)Ive had a chance to listen to Vangelis' score only after coming to the US because film soundtracks for Hollywood movies arent released so much in India and it was a pleasant surprise listening to the familiar keyboard tunes of Vangelis;he's left his stamp on this movie as well and it rightly deserves the accolades bestowed upon it.
My recommended tracks from both scores:

Orchestral adaptation: Vangelis's composition:
1)Love theme 1)Love theme
2) Memories of Green 2)Tears in the rain
3)Bladerunner Blues 3)Main title
4)End Titles 4) End titles

There is a lotta trivia and current information on Bladerunner on the net.All you gotta do is google it...
Cheers