MovieChat Forums > Exam (2010) Discussion > This movie is stupid (the real logic fai...

This movie is stupid (the real logic failure).

posted 14 years ago by munchchomp
67 replies | jump to latest

Spoiler alert.

Once the rules for the test have been established, the question is asked: 'Are there any questions?' Those who managed to make it to the end of the movie find out that this is the question the participants are required to answer to pass the exam. The presumably correct answer provided by the winning participant is 'no'. No, there are not any questions.

Wrong.

The question: 'Are there any questions?' makes no reference to the exam. Everything said is to be taken absolutely literally. The actual and obvious answer to this question is: 'yes'. Yes, there are questions in existence (more than one--many, to be accurate).

All the more obnoxious is the impossibly tiny 'Question 1.' printed on the back of each participant's sheet. It doesn't make any sense both within the logic of the exam and the story in the movie. And again, the original question makes no reference to the exam that they are taking (the question is not literally about the exam).

[–] zachanscom 11 years ago

also, the movie wants desperately to establish that white is bad.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bonsai-superstar 10 years ago

• Are there any questions (in regards to what I've just told you)? The answer is NO (as no-one in the room asks any questions right after the invigilator asks that).

• Are there any questions (on the paper)? The answer is NO. There are no visible questions on the paper.

• There is a tiny label "Question 1." written on at least one paper. This label is NOT followed by a question so, again, there is NO question and the answer to the above is still NO. In fact, as another poster here pointed out, this label could be a command (as in "question Candidate 1" as Candidate 1 can actually see the tiny label and knows the answer.

• During the exam, there IS a question, one that all candidates have: "what is the question?". Still, as they are forbidden to communicate to the invigilator or even the guard during the exam's 80 minutes and doing so will disqualify them, for them to pass the test the answer must remain, effectively, NO.

[–] mattikaye 10 years ago

Totally agree

The Question was "Any Questions?"
The answer the lady gave was No
She then said "I have some questions"
Surely her answer should therefore of been "Yes"

Tried to be clever but they got it wrong, oh the irony

[–] Reva_C 10 years ago

They didn't try to be clever....they *were* clever.

They managed to make a film on a low budget by coming up with an idea that would keep it all in one room (writing a film that is basically some people in one room for most of the film is the cheapest kind of film to make for those with low budgets/low resources/low experience, and therefore is what for many people will actually make the project possible at all....however, it is NOT easy to come up with an idea that will fill a whole script/film and keep it in one room).

That is a really hard thing to do, and they managed to do it...and they managed to keep people thinking and guessing throughout the entire script without leaving that room. A hard task. Which they did. That makes them and the film clever, no matter how people argue over pedantic wording on the question...which is actually the least important part of the film which is actually about exploring humanity.

Be fair to them....I have heard people arguing over the finer points of the wording of the question and the answer. But I haven't heard anyone complain 'oh I guessed the answer within five minutes so the film was ruined for me'...so they *were* clever in coming up with a concept that kept everyone thinking and guessing for an entire film, without leaving the one room, which made the project financially viable.

Good on them. More aspiring directors and film makers and writers should have the nerve to just go out there and do something like this. And I kind of think we should support them rather than pick on the wording of a question when actually, really, it was very clear and people are just picking on the wording of the question to be pedantic and, ironically, to 'try and be clever', the same thing the film makers are being accused of doing.

~ I hardly looked at his face. His knees were what I wished to see. ~

[–] johnobvich 10 years ago

Here's what I haven't seen in any posts so far. There is not one part of the test but actually TWO! The first is to to solve "Are there any questions?" There isn't because all it says on the sheet of paper is "Question 1." which means the correct answer is "No."

Now here's the thing. Blonde found the answer by using the CEO's (deaf) glasses. The method of finding the answer was right there but "deaf" was ostracized by the group so when he left, they lost their chance to solve the question within the 80 minutes. HOWEVER, that was only part one of the test and it actually was a very very small part of the whole test.

The real test was to see what a group of people of different races and nationalities would do if put into a room. Would they act racist? Would they act violent? They were like mice in a box. What would the mice do?
Now remember at the end, The Invigilator tells Blonde about the CEO. How he is extremely timid and reclusive around people and how he developed this wonder drug that can heal an unnamed disease (we never know what the disease is). The goal of this exam was to find the right person who would make that this wonder drug available to everyone who needs it. A person who stands up for themselves and doesn't back down when feeling intimated. A person who won't succumb to government pressure to not release the drug to that government's enemies.

They found that person they were looking for in Blonde. She kept her foot in the door so she didn't back down. She showed compassion towards Black, was not racist, and was smart because she solved the first part of the exam.

The whole question and answer part was really just to throw the group off of their game so the CEO and The Invigilator could study them while they try to solve the answer.

THAT'S IT and nothing more! The whole "Are there any questions?" really isn't that important.

[–] BillKendich89 9 years ago

This movie fails on many levels. It's supposed to emulate the Canadian horror-mystery Cube. At least that one was original. But I guess if the writers attempted any tangible explanation at the end, they'd fail and only achieve and anticlimax like in the Exam.

[–] forumulaa 8 years ago

Also, what if somebody had replied with a "Yes", and actually asked a question at the beginning? Those guys really took a risk there.