OVERLAY REPORT

The primary conflict in the film *LOLA* (2022) is an **ideological and ethical rift between two sisters, Thomasina "Thom" Hanbury and Martha "Mars" Hanbury**, regarding the use of their time-intercepting machine. While they initially share a bond over their invention, their relationship collapses as one sister becomes obsessed with "playing God" to win World War II, while the other realizes that their interference is destroying the future they love. ### **The Origin of the Conflict** The conflict began with the invention of **LOLA**, a machine created by the brilliant Thomasina in 1941. Named after their late mother, the device can intercept radio and television broadcasts from the future. * **Initial Harmony:** At first, the sisters use LOLA for personal delight, discovering the music and culture of the 1960s and 70s. They become obsessed with artists like **David Bowie** (specifically "Space Oddity") and **Bob Dylan**, even adopting the nicknames "Thom" and "Mars" from Bowie’s lyrics. * **The Pivot to War:** As the Blitz intensifies, they decide to use LOLA for the greater good by broadcasting "Angel of Portobello" pirate radio messages to warn civilians of impending German air raids. This altruism eventually leads to military cooperation with Lieutenant Sebastian Holloway. ### **Specific Details of the Escalating Conflict** The rift deepens into a primary conflict through three specific turning points: 1. **The Erasure of Culture:** The sisters begin to notice the "Butterfly Effect." When Mars tries to tune in to a 1973 David Bowie performance, she finds he no longer exists. He has been replaced by **Reginald Watson**, a musician whose songs have overtly fascist and nationalistic themes. This serves as the first major alarm for Mars that their meddling is poisoning the future. 2. **Thom’s God Complex:** Thomasina becomes increasingly seduced by the machine’s power. She begins to view human lives as tactical variables. The conflict peaks when Thom orchestrates a trap for German U-boats that results in the sinking of the **SS Abraham Lincoln**, a civilian ship. This act costs 2,000 American lives and causes the United States to remain neutral in the war, effectively handing victory to the Nazis. 3. **Collaborator vs. Rebel:** As history is rewritten, the sisters end up on opposite sides of a new fascist reality. Thomasina becomes a **state scientist** for the Nazi-aligned British government, believing her work can still create a "perfect" society. Meanwhile, Martha is arrested as a double agent and later becomes a fugitive, ultimately using her own film reels to send a desperate warning back through time to her younger sister. ### **Summary of the Conflict** * **Thomasina (Thom):** Driven by cold logic and the belief that she can control destiny to prevent tragedy, even if it requires horrific sacrifices. * **Martha (Mars):** Driven by the preservation of humanity and culture, realizing that a world saved by Thomasina’s methods is a world not worth living in. The film concludes with Martha making the very movie the audience is watching, hoping that by broadcasting it into the past, she can convince a young Thomasina to never finish building LOLA, thereby "starting" the conflict's resolution by erasing the invention itself.