‘Only God Can Make a Tree’ – The Message of ‘Ex Machina’ (Part One)

Alex Garland's Ex Machina (2014), with Alicia Vikander as Ava

The opening minutes of writer-director Alex Garland's futuristic Ex Machina (2014) set the tone and, inevitably, the tragic trajectory for the story in a way few films of the science fiction genre have achieved.

The brief opening sequence - short, sweet, to the point - introduces Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleason), a fresh-faced, eager young ...