"The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug."Gummo is all about living in the aftermath of a horrific event. A tornado rips through the town of Xenia, Ohio, and those who remained turned into redneck degenerates. It's an uncomfortable film, but it becomes a surreal reverie, as if you've huffed too much glue and can't remember how you got from point A to point B. Yet, in it's own way, it's a strangely hypnotic day in the life of low-class America, just trying to make sense of a hopeless situation.
If Gummo has taught me anything, it's that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it can exist even after a great loss. Skynet can try to break our spirits, but hang in there.