Eat Cockroaches

The movie starts in the year 2014. Global warming is at its height and climate change is about to end human life once and for all. The common people are relying on scientists to somehow save the world while even the scientists are panicking at the rate of decreasing resources.

When humanity is only a step away from extinction, a magical coolant called CW-7 is discovered. With the correct amount of CW-7 in the atmosphere, the world is said to go back to its natural form.

Without wasting more time, the authorities in seventy-nine countries collectively decide to release a certain amount of CW-7 into the atmosphere.

The program is initiated and completed successfully. However, the results are something that no one could have imagined in their wildest dreams. Instead of battling global warming, CW-7 cools the atmosphere to extreme levels, so much so that the entire world freezes and the earth goes back to the ice age.

Almost all human beings freeze to death in less than a week. Only a tiny percentage of humans survive by getting on a train called Snowpiercer built by a railway specialist Wilford. It is powered by a perpetual motion engine that is able to work even in extreme temperatures.

The train never stops, moving all twenty-four hours of three hundred sixty-five days. This is because the heating system inside only works when it continuously moves or else even the train would freeze.

The railway track goes to different countries as it is created by joining every track in the world. The train takes exactly a year to make a full circle of its track which is how people measure time.

Seventeen years later, in 2031 the train is still in motion and has never come to halt. Inside, people are divided into three different classes. The leader of the entire human population is the creator of the train, Wilford.

It is said that he lives above the engine storage and has an entire room to himself. After him, are the elites who only make up to one percent of the population.

They live in the frontal compartments and get to enjoy all the luxuries in life like bars, expensive restaurants, saloons, hospitals, and even schools for their children. Second, comes the middle compartment which consists of laborers who work for first-class people

. They do not receive as many services but get the opportunity to work their way up to the first class. Then, in the last windowless tiny compartment lives a population of freeloaders who are treated like cattle.

They are not given any resources other than occasional black bars of gluten. The group survives by reminding themselves at least they are alive but they don’t even have the privilege to look at the sunlight.

For food, the train has a built-in greenhouse that grows enough vegetables for the first and second classes. Meanwhile, water is created by melting ice in front of the train.

One afternoon, two guards go to the last compartment to distribute food. It is again the jelly-like substance called the protein bar. This time, the guards inquire if there is a violinist onboard since they need one for the entertainment of the first-class people.

An old couple comes forward but it turns out that only one can come with them. When the couple refuses to go without each other, the guards push the old woman and drag her husband away.

The leaders of the freeloaders are two young men named Curtis and Edgar. They do as much as they can for the community but haven’t been able to make any significant change.

Every day, they receive a single capsule with a message inside one random protein bar. The messages range from the blueprint of the train to motivating quotes.

This time, the capsule contains the name of the designer of the train, Nam. He is currently held as a prisoner in the prison compartment. No one knows who sends the capsule messages but Curtis believes that they are an ally. In the past seventeen years, freeloaders have protested twice.

They failed both times and caused many deaths but their spirit to fight for equal rights hasn’t changed. Curtis and Edgar are constantly planning their next move and encouraging people to join them.

One of the passengers among the freeloaders is an old man named Gilliam. He is missing one arm and a leg but is determined to improve their living situation. He is also the spiritual leader of the group and is the one holding everyone together.

Curtis comes to Gilliam to show him the latest message. They believe that someone wants Curtis to meet designer Nam. As they talk, the guards enter the compartment and start measuring the height of every kid.

At last, they decide to take two kids named Timi and Andy. Timi’s mother begs and cries for them to stop but the guards push her away. A man named Andrew throws his shoe at the guards, making their blood boil. Then, we are introduced to a woman named Minister Mason.

She is in charge of maintaining peace and security on the train and is also the only first-class person the freeloaders have seen. As punishment, Mason makes Andrew keep his hand out of the train for seven minutes. When he brings the arm inside, it is completely frozen.

The guards then cut it with a hammer, leaving him bleeding and in pain. Mason tells the freeloaders to let this be a lesson because they are like shoes whose very job is to stay at the bottom.

After everything calms down, the entire freeloader community fumes in anger. This is not the first time they have been treated like animals but this time, they have had enough of the injustice.

That entire night, they make an elaborate plan to attack the guards. Rumor has it that the guards ran out of bullets in the last protest and are carrying empty guns.

Curtis takes it upon himself to see if the rumor is true. The next day, the compartment door opens, and in comes the guy who brings food daily. Curtis walks to him and points the gun at himself, asking the man to shoot.

Lo and behold, the gun turns out to be empty which is a sign for the others to attack. The plan works and they manage to enter the prison section of the train.

There, Curtis meets designer Nam whose name was written on the last message. Nam and his little daughter Yona are addicted to a substance called Kronole.

They only agree to join the group if they are provided with enough Kronole. Curtis agrees and welcomes them to the freeloader community. Using his skills, Nam opens the door to the next compartment which has a window.

The group can almost not believe how bright the compartment is as they finally get to see sunlight after seventeen years. Following that, they enter the kitchen area specially made for the poor class.

To their horror, they discover that the protein bar they have been feeding on is made up of ground cockroaches. After a few more compartments, they will reach the water filtrate.

Gilliam advises that they hold the filtrate in their possession which will give them a ground for negotiation with the guards. That way, they can ask for equal rights in turn for water.

However, they are met with a surprise when they open the next door and see a horde of guards with axes waiting for them. A fight ensues where many people from both sides lose their lives.

Amidst the battle, Nam sees a point outside the train which he clearly remembers was not visible last year when he wasn’t in prison. This means that the ice outside is surely melting to some extent and humankind will soon be able to live on the ground.

Suddenly, Mason makes an announcement and asks the guards to kill seventy percent of the freeloaders. At the same time, they cross through a tunnel which gives the guards an upper hand because they own night vision goggles. Many of Curtis’s people die in the following fight.

But in the end, the cruel minister is captured and threatened, so she orders the guards to stop. The freeloaders want to kill the woman but they still need her to manipulate the guards.

Upon being asked, she reveals that the children that were stolen yesterday are with the captain of the train Wilford. She doesn’t know what he does with children but is aware that he orders many of them.

Mason promises to bring the group to Wilford’s compartment in exchange for her life. Curtis agrees but only a handful of people led by him decide to join Mason. The rest stay behind for their own safety.

Before leaving, Andrew makes a portrait of the group alongside Mason who has a shoe on her head. It is a slap back for the time she compared the freeloaders to shoes who are supposed to be on the bottom.

Following that, they make their way to the first-class lounges that consist of an aquarium, a greenhouse with fresh fruits, and a sushi station. Mason \asks them to sit down for sushi and shamelessly boasts about the services.

But while the others enjoy fresh fish, she is made to eat the protein bar. The next compartment is the school for children. Starting from an early age, they are brainwashed about freeloaders and are taught to look up to Wilford as their king.

Timi’s mother asks them about the missing kids and a little boy reveals that they were taken through the front door. At the same time, the train passes a monumental place.

It is the area where the bodies of seven frozen people are clearly visible. They were explorers who jumped off the train a few years ago, hoping to survive on land.

Back in the compartment of the freeloaders, everyone is impatiently waiting for the group to return with good news. Surprisingly, they are approached by a man with a cart full of eggs.

They are shocked because they were under the impression that all forms of animals on earth are dead. The man laughs, claiming that it is just a rumor, just like the story about empty guns is also a rumor.

With that being said, he brings a gun out and starts firing at them. Similarly, the teacher in the children’s classroom also does the same. She manages to kill Andrew before Curtis kills her.

The classroom also has a monitor where the CCTV footage of the last compartment is shown. A guard in the compartment brings Gilliam in front of the camera and shoots him dead.

Gilliam was very close to Curtis’s heart, hence, death crushes his spirit. In anger and to take revenge, he shoots Mason dead. Then, the surviving group moves forward and ends up in a room filled with high-class people socializing with each other.

They are enjoying luxuries like alcohol, expensive clothes, saloons, medicines, and doctors. Right before the group enters the engine room, another batch of guards attacks them.

They fight with all they have but Timi’s mother dies in the battle. Now, the only surviving ones are Curtis, Nam, and his daughter Yona. They cross a club filled with high youngsters and finally reach the door to Wilford’s room.

Opening this door is out of Nam’s expertise so they sit down for a while. Curtis starts telling the story of the time when they were new to the train. For the first few months, the lowest class was provided with no food whatsoever.

When desperation hit, they resorted to cannibalism. The older people liked to eat children because their meat was tender and Curtis also took part in it. One day, he was so hungry that he wanted to eat Edgar; Curtis’s late partner who was just a kid back then.

At that time, Gillam stopped him and offered his hand in exchange for the kid’s life. That is how he lost one arm and a leg. Some days later, they were miraculously given the protein bars and the population survived.

However, the guilt of what Curtis did never left his mind ever since. This is why he is so adamant about fighting for his people. After listening to the story, Nam reveals that life outside of the train is possible and tells Curtis about the mountain that is visible now.

He also discloses that he is not an addict and has been collecting Kronole to make an explosive. He wants to use it to make a hole in the train and go outside.

Just when he is about to light it on fire, Wilford’s assistant shoots him in the leg and brings Curtis inside. In the following scene, he finally gets to meet Wilford who has grown old.

Wilford reveals that he was the one who sent those messages in the capsules and he did so to start the riot. Every few years, he stirs up the low class so they protest and a few people are killed.

This is a drastic measure taken to ensure the population on board remains manageable. The protesters were supposed to be killed when the tunnel arrived but Mason being abducted changed everything.

Not just that, but Gilliam also knew about the plan and was helping Wilford from the inside. Even though he did so to keep the human population alive, Curtis cannot help but be disappointed in him.

Outside, Nam and Yona are still trying to set off the explosive when the first-class maniacs attack Nam. Yona panics and runs to Curtis to ask for help.

They suddenly notice a compartment on the floor where poor Timi is sitting in between the engines and working. Because the space is tiny, only kids can repair the broken parts but instead of the first-class children, Wilford chose the poor ones.

This is the last straw for Curtis. He attacks Wilford and knocks him out before trying to help Timi out of the compartment. Outside, Yona lights the explosive on fire.

Everything goes silent for a few seconds before a loud bang lights the entire train on fire. It derails and everyone inside dies of the impact. In the last scene, we see Yona and Timi walk out of the wreckage as the sole survivors of the crash.

They notice a polar bear nearby, meaning that life on earth has returned and they have a chance to survive.