Thoughts on Alex Garland's “Annihilation” (contains spoilers)

I recently saw this film and having never read the book, it caught me by surprise and I didn't know if I liked it or not. Natalie Portman's acting left something to be desired. Certain parts reminded me of “Under the Skin,” the original “Alien” (especially some Giegeresque production design in the lighthouse basement towards the end) and Barry Levinson's “Sphere.” In the climax scene, the ominous melody right before the near-deafening music reminded me of Atoms for Peace's Ingenue. I was constantly taken out of the movie by how carelessly unprotected the different characters were when they interacted with the world of the Shimmer (something that was complained about time and again in Prometheus and Covenant).

Still, I felt that these were gripes about things that didn't seem essential to the story. Was it supposed to be more allegorical than a typical alien thriller? I thought so, mainly because I think Alex Garland makes intelligent movies. I then read somewhere that the Shimmer represents cancer, and it finally started to make sense.

The all-female cast also struck me as interesting and noteworthy. Why were there no men in this expedition? Was it an answer to the need for stronger roles for women in cinema, or was it something more? I kept mulling over this and then I thought that since this was a movie about cancer and its effects on its host, the entire story had to be an abstraction of some kind.

Today it occurred to me that the story could be a representation of the interactions within an all-women cancer support group. Dr. Ventress is the support group's leader. Her top priority is to reach the lighthouse at all costs, instead of studying the minute effects of cancer on the daily lives of the group. The lighthouse guides ships to safety through storms, much like reason guides our thoughts through times of emotional tribulation. Within the lighthouse of reason, a cancer patient is faced with a choice: Either retain their identity, or become a shell of their former self--recognizable to others on the outside, but alien on the inside.

The support group members confide in one another, support and defend one another, and mourn when they lose each other. After Lena hides the fact that Kane was her husband and is exposed by Anya, they feel betrayed--much like a person who has exposed all their vulnerabilities to you would feel if you didn't reciprocate.

Some of the group's members go quietly, while others fight. Some struggle with what things mean, while others see the beauty in how their sickness makes them see the world. The different monsters in the world of the Shimmer represent the different types of cancer. When one of their team members is killed by the bear, the beast's growl takes on the sound of their friend screaming in pain (an ingenious moment in cinema). This is because whenever they come across this particular type of cancer, they remember their friend's suffering from it.

At the end, when Lena refuses to surrender to the emotional threat of cancer (in the form of the alien) that has come to annihilate her very being, she has maintained her reason and identity, but has gained no further understanding of the function or physical ramifications of cancer. She can only understand how it affected her on an emotional and rational level, and having traveled the journey, she can finally understand what her husband has gone through.

EDIT: Some spelling / syntax errors.