Summary of the introduction and rules of the movie:

“Circle” is a game with a set of rules that the characters must follow to survive; each decision they make is affected by the communication made with the other characters. The movie starts with one of the characters waking up to find herself in a dark room filled with people lined up in a circle, each asleep while standing on their own, smaller, red circles. Without knowing how she got there, she attempts to step out of her circle when she hears a loud noise signaling her to stop. She then tries to make physical contact with another character, but the noise sounds again. Seconds later, another woman wakes up and tries to leave; a light strikes her and stops breathing. What just happened tells us two of the main rules of the game. Do not touch the other players, and do not leave the circle. The lights turn on, and everyone wakes up. The woman’s body is dragged outside of view by an unknown force, and the “players” start to hear a series of noises that seem to be counting down. The noise stops, and another character dies. A player moving his hand sees an arrow on the ground that moves in the same direction as his hand; he closes his hand into a fist when the next timer goes off, and the character he was pointing at dies. The following rule is to tell the arrow using your hand to who you want to be “voted out” and close your fist to submit an answer. Each player decides who will die, and whoever gets the most votes must pass.

Summary and analysis of the rest of the movie:

Now that characters know they are killing others; some try to find alternatives by voting for people who have already died and not voting at all. After discovering that these methods won’t work, everyone is scared that others might vote for them, and they panic. Someone came up with the idea to vote out older people first to save time to figure out how to escape. People are stunned by what he said; how can he ask the others to kill them so confidently? No one wants to kill, but the characters try to justify it since they aren’t killing them with their own hands. The people who protested against this idea earlier ultimately decided to vote out the elderly when they realized it meant surviving. They started with a man and decided to vote clockwise from there. Although he begs for his life, they vote out the first elder, and he falls to the ground. People start questioning a man in a military suit, thinking he has the answers to what’s happening since he is of high authority. The movie tries to show that when in panic, there are always those who look for someone to look up to or seek help from. No one is truly independent.

At this time, an elderly woman dies, and an elderly man realizes that he is the next in line to be voted, so he decides to speak up. He said he remembered being kidnapped and seeing Chinese aliens. The others realize this and vote him out. The next elderly in line is a woman who lies about her age to survive. This shows that anyone is willing to lie if it means staying. These two don’t know that lying right now will save them in the future. But they are so desperate to live that they make up excuses and come up with lies. Suppose people were put in the same position in the real world. The majority would lie and do the same things to ensure they survive. Even the most honest would rather lie than die. The elderly riot against the man trying to get them voted, and others realize that if they don’t find a way out soon, even young people will die because they are the oldest based on age. They vote out the man, and now they can vote for whoever they want again.

Characters are now trying to determine if they were chosen to participate in the “game.” They try to find similarities by introducing themselves, and the first to volunteer begins. She introduces herself as Beth. This is the first character to reveal their name. She gives a heartwarming summary of her life. She is 36, single, doesn’t have kids, she has a twin sister and three pets. The timer starts buzzing, and she falls to the ground, dying. After her fall, someone says they’re glad she at least didn’t have children, and one of the other characters replies, “So what? That doesn’t matter. She was still a human being, just like any of you.” Beth didn’t say or do anything wrong, but because she was put on the spot and no one knew anyone else to vote, they individually decided on her to, again, ensure their survival. Later on, racism is introduced in the movie. A man is told to introduce himself, but he doesn’t respond. The woman behind him realizes he doesn’t speak English, so she asks him in Spanish to talk to her about himself and his family so she can tell the others.

The first thing he thinks to say is, “I have my daughters.” He takes a picture of his daughters, which he keeps safe inside his hat. “I have three daughters”. One of the characters asks the woman what he said, but she doesn’t respond. She knows that a woman was killed because she was put on the spot and didn’t have kids. If she told them that he has kids, then the others would be less likely to vote for him. And since she stood up for him, she might’ve been more likely to be voted instead of him. Another one of the characters says, “I bet he’s not even here legally.” People stare at him with disgust, while others agree with the statement that he deserves to die because he came there illegally. That same man also makes other racist comments, such as “He was probably hanging out in front of the Home Depot with 20 other illegal aliens.”. He agrees with someone who says that Mexicans are “Taking American people’s jobs.” This scene includes both racism and classism. They’re trying to vote him out because of his race and because of his contribution to the world. They imply that as a Mexican, he is a wrong person who doesn’t deserve to live because he’s taking jobs from Americans.

According to their racist beliefs, Americans / white people are more worthy of living. People are starting to show their true selves as time goes on now that they know that whatever they say, they will save someone with the same morals and values as them. Much later in the movie, another scene similar to this one occurs, but this time, it is homophobia that is introduced. Near the end of the movie, there are only four people left in the circle. They realize that one of the characters had never voted; he’s never spoken or voted since the very beginning; because of this, the final three voted for him, and he died. But I think he was the only character who was truly human. We didn’t hear any of his thoughts or opinions, but it was clear that he never wanted to kill, even if it meant saving his life.

The overall meaning of the movie:

The whole movie is about people’s morals and values. People go to different lengths to ensure their survival. The characters are supposed to kill people based on morals. What is right or wrong, good or bad? Everyone has different lives and opinions, so “good” is different. Everyone does something for a reason. Some steal for fun; others do it to provide for their family. Is it wrong to kill someone? If someone were to ask you this question, you’d most likely say yes, but what if that person is a murderer? What if they killed someone you love? Would your opinion change on whether killing is good or bad, whether someone deserved it or not? Humans are known to be the most intelligent beings on earth, but we’re also capable of lying and scheming. We are capable of having feelings and opinions; the world is too grey to be able to define things as good or bad. We’re all human, evil or not; people are people. We must decide what is good or bad based on our opinions, morals, and values.