2073: This chilling glimpse of the future demands a Christian response

Asif Kapadia’s latest film blends dystopian fiction with chillingly real archive footage to portray a future shaped by authoritarianism, climate catastrophe and tech tyranny. But in a world that already feels on the brink, is 2073 a wake-up call - or a cause for despair?

There was a time when post-apocalyptic drama offered a thought-provoking entertainment, but with the world today in a state of crisis, the genre is arguably a less popular diversion. After all, many of us feel we’re currently living out a sci-fi movie.  

Perhaps this is why the film 2073 hasn’t had too much attention. Released at the beginning of the year, there was just one screening at my local independent cinema and I almost didn’t go. I’d seen the trailer and read the blurb and thought there was nothing there I wanted to ponder. 

Part documentary, part drama, the film presents an imagined future 50 years from now. Civilisation has collapsed, drones fly overhead, armed police and facial recognition cameras ensure no one slips through the net. The world has been destroyed by fires, floods and war, chairwoman Ivanka Trump is in her 30th year of power, and art and literature are forbidden. 

Living alone and underground in a deserted shopping centre in a ‘New San Francisco’, is…