Andrew Legge’s found-footage style Sci-Fi drama, “Lola (2023),” is an inventive and resourceful take on the many possibilities that go hand in hand with time-machine exploration. “Lola” is the feature debut of filmmaker Legge, and it is a neat amalgamation of World War drama and time-travel excitement, all told in an ingenious documentary format that not only negates the budgetary restrictions but elevates the film altogether. Powered by a nifty “What If” story and the earnest performances of the two leads, Stefanie Martini and Emma Appleton, “Lola” is a testament to clever filmmaking, and I cannot recommend it enough.
Lola (2023) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis:
In a seemingly self-shot film, Martha (Stefanie Martini) addresses her sister, Thomasina (Emma Appleton), through the camera. Through the anecdotes recited by Martha, we get to know the lives of two sisters in the early 1940s. Thomasina, the elder sister, was a scientific genius, as per Martha. And we quickly see that Martha’s claim is not unfounded. Thomasina, who showed scientific prowess from an early age, developed a time machine in her early twenties. They named the apparatus ‘Lola’ in honor of their dead mother.
‘Lola’ was not a traditional time machine in the way it transports its users to another time, especially the future. It does not allow time travel in its strictest definition. What it does instead is show future broadcasts/telecasts. These could be news, songs of the future, or the cinema that is yet to come. For the sisters, ‘Lola’ literally opened the door to the future. This made Martha explore the art of the future, especially music. Martha became a fan of musicians who were not born yet. Like David Bowie.
Thomasina, on the other, noticed the all-powerful and life-changing potential of ‘Lola’ when she started getting news of the future. Especially the future that contains something significant as World War II. Thomasina captured one future radio cast that bears the news of Nazi Germany’s attack on Great Britain. The news contained the place and time of the bombardment. Thomasina ‘hijacked’ the usual radio broadcast of Britain and notified the people of Britain about the attack, and this started the first of the many changes she would make to alter the course of World War II.
The British people thanked this anonymous ‘Angel.’ But the British military started its investigation to find the person behind this angelic intervention. One of the officers, Sebastian (Rory Fleck Byrne), correctly traced the sisters as the ‘culprits.’ But he allayed the fears of the sister and instead provided positive feedback to his supervisor. Sebastian believed ‘Lola’ could help the British force, and soon with another demonstration, the entire British military got on board as well.
Lola (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
How Did Thomasina Start to Alter History?
With Sebastian and Martha, Thomasina started to make serious alterations to history as we know it. It started with the best intentions, Thomasina captured news of every Nazi Germany attack, and Britain used it to their advantage. Soon, Thomasina’s influence started to make her the go-to person for every military intelligence. Not only Britain but the entire Allied forces started to benefit from ‘Lola.’ Sebastian, who had started to stay with the sisters in their country house, established a bond with them, especially with Martha. It seemed that everything was going in the right direction, and the fall of Nazi Germany would come much sooner than in actual history.
Why Did ‘Lola’ Start to Impact Negatively?
However, it became quickly clear to Martha that their interference was changing the future, as she had seen when ‘Lola’ was invented. The actual future was getting altered. Thomasina had expected this, as she mentioned that with each of the alterations they made, which saved many lives undoubtedly, the shift of timeline variables would culminate to create a new future that cannot be foreseen.
That is why Bowie evaporated when Martha checked with Lola the next time. To Thomasina, this did not seem catastrophic as she said, “What is the work of one musician compared to thousands of lives being saved?” However, soon it became clear to Martha and Sebastian that Thomasina’s influence was not altering the course of the war in the way they wanted.
A major turning point came when on the advice of Thomasina, Britain chose to use an American ship as bait to lure German U-Boats and then destroy them. Initially branded as a success, this quickly backfired as America started to question why Britain’s tool for predicting German Attacks was not used. America quickly concluded that Britain allowed their ship to sink. This made America withdraw from the Allied forces.
Were Thom and Martha Able to Reverse the Events?
The military made Thomasina and Martha the scapegoat to pacify America, claiming that the sisters were German spies. They were about to be hanged when a Nazi attack helped Sebastian to rescue Martha. America’s withdrawal ensured the chain reactions which resulted in Britain, and possibly entire Europe, going under Nazi rule. The newly-established fascist British government lauded Thomasina as she had been branded a German spy. And they released her from jail and allowed her to live in her own home with all her experiments. In turn, they get to use ‘Lola.’ The power of ‘Lola’ ensured that fascism well and truly set itself in.
Martha and Sebastian tried to reach Thomasina, who believed Martha was dead. But Sebastian died in the process. When all hope seemed to be lost, Martha created a self-shot documentary. The documentary that we are seeing currently where Martha recounted all these. She made it in the hope that maybe the young Thomasina in another timeline would see this and do exactly the opposite of everything that happened to them.
The film ends with the note that no such machine was found in Thomasina and Martha’s house. Add to that the climactic “The Shining”-like photo reveal where Thomasina and Martha are seen celebrating the end of World War II in its actual timeline. We can conclude that Thomasina did see Martha’s documentary and stopped the development of ‘Lola,’ ensuring all the alternate events were reversed and we got our original timeline back. With Bowie, Bob Dylan, and Van Halen.
