In one of six interconnected stories, Sonmi-451, a restaurant server and sexual object, escapes her predetermined role as a "fabricant," or clone, when she is rescued by Hae-Joo Chang, a rebel intellectual. He mentors her in both radical politics and the art of love, including physical intimacy. By chance, Sonmi comes across a film about Timothy Cavendish, a character in another of the film's stories, and begins to understand the difference between who she is and who she could become. She learns government secrets, including one that was presented in the 1973 film Soylent Green. Sonmi realizes that her death is the only way to inspire future generations and bring down the oppressive system that doomed her.


Articles on Cloud Atlas

Dan Jolin, Free Your Mind, in: Empire, nr. 284 (February), 2013 pp. 88-93

Reviews

Violet Lucca, Cloud Atlas, in: Filmcomment, nr. 6 (November/December), 2012 pp. 70-71

Anton Bitel, Cloud Atlas, in: Sight & Sound, nr. 3 (March), 2013 pp. 80-81