Our Capitalist Hero
The Tetris movie is a fun romp, but its attempt to show character development flops when it makes monetary gain the sole metric of success.
Review by Chris Fogle
As a kid, I never even dreamed of owning a Game Boy. But one Christmas my rich(er than my parents) aunt and uncle gave me one—and I must admit that playing the included game of Tetris had a profound impact on me. No, I didn’t get addicted to video games, as the doomsayers promised. Rather, having that game with that console was a lesson in humility and gratitude for my young self. I had done nothing to deserve it, and I never expected to have it—what better picture of grace could an eight-year-old receive?
Tetris, the movie, tells the true story of how that game ended up in my hands that Christmas morning, chronicling Henk Rogers’s four-year quest to make the game and the Game Boy international best sellers. In 1984, American programmer Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton) owns a small Japanese video game business with his wife Akemi (Ayane Nagabuchi). But when Rogers sees a demo of Tetris, he immediately recognizes its potential and pursues distribution rights. The difficulties of securing funding for his venture pale in comparison to unraveling the chain of ownership to make proper commercial dealings possible.
The adventure of securing rights (more entertaining than it sounds) ultimately leads Rogers to the U.S.S.R., where Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov) resides. This gave the film’s creators the opportunity to compare Cold War Communism (unfavorably) with Capitalist Democracy. Rogers arrives in the U.S.S.R. as both an underdog and an honest businessman—the two things Western audiences love most. Pajitnov, on the other hand, is an underdog pitted against his own government, which is hellbent on raking in riches from his creation. When the two men first meet, their ideals are aligned: they both want to see Tetris in the hands of people who will enjoy it.
It’s only when Rogers is introduced to Nintendo’s revolutionary new handheld console, the Game Boy, that he starts to see dollar signs and begins to care more about the profit than for the game itself. Meanwhile, Pajitnov remains an honest programmer who simply wants people to have fun playing his game. He also doesn’t want to get in trouble—not out of loyalty to his government, but because of fear of what they will do to him. Director Jon S. Baird navigates the seriousness of the political and business situations by breaking the tension with fun, video game-inspired visuals. Characters are introduced with 8-bit graphics, and Tetris-like blocks overlay portions of a car chase.
The movie wants us to conclude, this is a once–in–a–lifetime opportunity—but for what? Ultimately, it seems, for Rogers to outsmart the Communists—and get rich.
Meanwhile Rogers is adding further complexity to his life by ravenously lobbying for Tetris to accompany the Game Boy on its release—even though he isn’t sure he even has the rights to the game. To be fair, the movie wants us to conclude, this is a once–in–a–lifetime opportunity—but for what? Ultimately, it seems, for Rogers to outsmart the Communists—and get rich.
Sadly, Tetris uses its momentum to lean into the fatigued Western–capitalism–is–best–and–communism–is–an–evil–empire trope. Interestingly, writer Noah Pink manages somehow to both demonize and condone pride and greed. Those vices as they manifest in certain British and Russian stakeholders are condemned, chiefly because the characters use dishonesty for selfish ends, but the hero’s pride and avarice, hidden behind phrases like “entrepreneur,” “cowboy,” and “providing for family,” are forgiven with only a dash of humility learned and no apology whatsoever for the greed.
Pink does subtly contrast these inconsistent messages with the failings of Western greed, but he pulls up just short of the mark with the conventional glorification of individualistic avarice when it comes to Rogers. What makes the more nuanced conversation’s slow fade even more frustrating is that Tetris does show the costs of the single-minded pursuit of gain through two female characters.
Over the course of the story, we see the Rogerses’ eldest daughter, Maya (Kanon Narumi), grow up into a vibrant tween. Excited to perform a traditional Japanese song and dance at a recital, Maya reminds her father several times to attend the show. When Rogers’s obsession with acquiring Tetris keeps him from making it to the performance, his daughter is crushed, and his wife calls him selfish. Rogers does apologize, but he quickly brushes the incident off and rushes back to the U.S.S.R before his deal can slip through his controller-loving hands.
Having returned to Russia, Rogers negotiates with politicians through his interpreter, simply called Sasha (Sofya Lebedeva). In its second half, the film effectively captures the tension of an ’80s U.S.S.R. waking to the fact that its government is on the verge of collapse and the measures it takes knowing its days are numbered. When Sasha comes face to face with the corruption, she takes action—some of which the audience must suspend belief to enjoy, but action nonetheless. Although her longtime trust in her government has taken a devastating blow, her humility and acknowledgement of her misplaced patriotism allows her to pivot loyalties and do the right thing.
Ultimately, in its preoccupation with manufacturing a happy ending, Tetris ends up glorifying materialism and the quest for personal gain.
In the end, Rogers is portrayed as the hero, returning home as a victorious David, having beaten the Goliath of Communism. But while the final scenes paint the entrepreneur as sorry for missing his daughter’s performance, there is no true remorse. His family welcomes him back, all is forgotten, and the world is perfect—and perfectly ready to make Rogers a rich man. Yet I’m left wondering: was his wife wrong when she asked if missing his daughter’s performance was worth the riches and relational risk?
Ultimately, in its preoccupation with manufacturing a happy ending, Tetris ends up glorifying materialism and the quest for personal gain. Rogers’s character arc, which was poised to strengthen his sense of responsibility as father and husband, felt flat. I enjoy a flawed hero, and I understand Tetris is partially based on real events of the ’80s—the Decade of Greed. (Having recently written the comparison article “1982 vs. 2022: Greed vs. Giving,” I’m pretty convinced that the greed rampant in both Russian politics and the film industry, to name just two examples, impacted society forty years ago as well as today.)
Sure, sometimes we just want a movie to provide entertaining escapism. And while Tetris is that, it also aims at being a meaningful commentary on life. Good storytelling has dynamic characters, people who learn a lesson or change, for better or worse. But somehow Rogers remains static. Instead, it is Sasha who matures and takes action for meaningful change. In my book, that makes her not only the true hero of the movie, but also the more relatable character.
The lack of integrity, both of Rogers as a character and of the film as a whole, was disappointing. Still, the more I think of Rogers being touted as the hero while Sasha fades away, the more I realize that, although accidental (and the result of irresponsible storytelling) there was a takeaway I could live with: in the words of Jesus, “the last will be first and the first will be last.” Sasha’s character arc is a beautiful illustration of the hard truth that doing the right thing may not bring you fame and fortune—but it’s worth doing nonetheless. And it reminded me, too, of the riches of GameBoy and Tetris that I received that long-ago Christmas morning, unlooked for, unsought, and undeserved—in other words, as unlike capitalist materialism as a game console could possibly be.
Chris Fogle is passionate about connecting Jesus with pop culture because the majority of society relates to life through entertainment. You can find more of his writing at www.ChrisFogle.com.
Tetris was released on March 31, 2023, by Apple Studios and is available to stream on AppleTV+ here.
