Analysis of The Fifth Element

A Tarnished Character: Critics’ Misinterpretations of Leeloo

Although the critics might disagree on whether or not the Fifth Element is worth seeing, they all seem to agree on one point—that Leeloo fails as a heroine. Even though she does save the world, the critics are still upset with her character. Perhaps they are upset because this perfect woman does not save the world alone. Joel Martin, Professor of Religious Studies, writes:

In the Fifth Element, humanity's rescue depends upon the action of a perfect being. Unfortunately, the perfect being is female. At the critical moment when she must act, she becomes too emotional and starts crying. Overwhelmed by the duality of humanity, she hesitates. Only after the Bruce Willis character tells her that he loves her does she blast the evil ball of fire and save earth. (Martin)

Bruce Willis’s character, Korben Dallas, does play an extremely important role. He gives Leeloo a reason to save humanity, but he does not actually save humanity. Would the critics have responded differently if an older woman had shown Leeloo a mother’s love? Leeloo did not necessarily need romantic love as a reason to save humanity. She just needed some kind of affirmation that humanity was worth saving. After seeing the destruction that humans inflict on each other, she felt unsure whether she should save the human race.
 

Why do critics fault her for hesitating? Even though she is a genetically engineered warrior, Leeloo was engineered by the Mondoshawan to fight an unimaginable, ancient Evil, not human wickedness. She is a strong yet vulnerable savior (Carpenter 1) who has never been exposed to human war. So when she witnesses the brutality and the hopelessness of war, she reacts with gut wrenching sorrow at the dark side of humanity. Perhaps her reaction to those images of destruction was unrealistic; however, one has to keep in mind that Leeloo only comes out of her sarcophagus every five thousand years in order to defeat Evil. She does not watch the news everyday, and she has not become desensitized yet to the idea of murder, rape, and war like most humans.
 

Some critics have chosen not to delve into Leeloo’s character, and believe her to be “an ultraviolent, unintelligible woman” (Alspector) who “demonstrates the merits of flame-colored hair with blond roots” (Maslin). These superficial comments show how much effort some critics put into their work. A more perceptive critic noted that Leeloo is “a mixture of naivety and ruthlessness” (Newman 40), which is a far more accurate description of her character. The idea that someone believes Leeloo is “unintelligible” is quite amusing considering the fact that she learned five thousand years of human history in a few hours, as well as the English language. Naïve is a much better word to describe Leeloo because it does not denote a lack of intelligence but merely a childlike innocence that comes from being in storage for the last five thousand years.
 

Although some might say her naivety was the cause of her hesitation in saving the world, her outsider perspective is arguably more likely to have caused her to evaluate whether or not humans should live on for another five thousand years. She viewed the crime, war, destruction, and other horrors that humans have become accustomed to with new eyes. We can hardly blame her for not immediately wanting to intervene in humanity’s plight when she has witnessed what we do to each other.
 

The Past’s Presence in the Future: Why The Fifth Element Is Noteworthy to the Genre of Science Fiction

According to Gerry Carpenter, The Fifth Element is an “eclectic mix of sci-fi, fantasy, satire, and comedy that may not be to everyone’s tastes, but that mix also makes it stand out from the crowd all the more” (3). Much of the film’s humor comes from its parodies of science fiction movies by “making many references to other films like Stargate, Star Wars, and Blade Runner” (Hawk 73). By parodying scenes or objects in other movies, such as the physical similarities between Ultimate Evil and the Death Star from Star Wars, Besson has managed to offer something unusual to science fiction fans. His “comic irreverence is welcome as it downplays the over-familiar Big Alien Threat to the Universe plot engine in favour of inspired comic goofiness” (Newman 40). Although the satire in The Fifth Element is an important and unique element to this movie, there is arguably a more noteworthy aspect that has been forgotten—the battle between good and evil or more specifically how the battle is won.
 

In an attempt to beat Evil, Federation soldiers fire nuclear missiles into the massive ball of fire and gas. Unfortunately, the planet-sized threat only increases in size and eventually consumes the Federation spaceship. This early scene in the film illustrates that modern weapons have no effect on the threat except to enlarge it. Technology has failed humanity, at least modern, man-made technology. The only weapon that can defeat Evil is an ancient weapon created by an ancient, alien race. The Mondoshawans created a genetically superior human whose DNA could hold all of her personality and memories. She is the fifth element that brings the other four together to save Earth every five thousand years. Humanity's future relies on this ancient weapon. The irony that in such a technologically advanced society the ancient is needed to save humanity’s future is a unique aspect to The Fifth Element.