The theme of Natural Selection is trust. What does it mean to trust someone? It means to have a belief in an uncertainty, or a faith. What makes trusting people an act of faith then? What aspect of a relationship has uncertainties? Clearly, the relationship itself and what it means for each individual’s side of the coin. Trust is to have faith that both people have a common understanding, a shared faith, in what the relationship means to each. This is easy to see with a marriage relationship.

Indeed, Natural Selection does not shy away from the association of trust and faith, placing it smack center in the main protagonist’s life. She is a devout wife who learns her husband has not been trustworthy. He misrepresented himself to her, for his own gain. Some may call this exploitation or manipulation. Underneath such name-calling is the impulsive act of selfishness and greed which moral people find reprehensible. And why is this case? Because of the harm it causes to others, as a sort of collateral damage to the person’s self-centeredness. Untrustworthy people then are ultimately thieves, stealing away the precious essences of living – which is time on Earth – at the harm and not benefit of those injured.

And yet the devote protagonist spends the entire film being used by the untrustworthy. But why? Why does she make herself so exploitable? Is it her Christianity? Even at the earliest age she faces a crisis, her trustworthiness in others fails her. Is this just a cosmic wrinkle, where she is unfortunately been placed in amongst unfortunate circumstances of people who use others, or is the director trying to make a stronger, louder statement: this is the nature of mankind – he is not to be trusted?

On the other hand, the film shows the necessity for independence from others. It may lay claim that mankind is imperfect, and will behave greedily whenever the opportunity arises, but it also advises us to be wise and avoid situations where we are exploited in the first place. And how is this accomplished? By being a strong individual, who does not sway in the wind depending on who is blowing the gust. This is painfully awoken within the female lead as she recognizes it is not selfish to have self-interest. It is not selfish to be disagreeable with others. It is not selfish to enjoy liberty.

Grade: A-