When you think that the main character, if he were in our non-genetically-biased culture today, would still not get into the space program, there's something wrong with the story. It's not some genetic probability, he's shown in the film as having a very real heart problem. You don't send people with heart problems into space. He put the rest of the crew in a possibly life-threatening situation just so he could selfishly realize his dream.

In the movie the main character Vincent is told that he MAY have a heart defect. The odds were 100 to 1, that he was sick, he said he'd take that chance of being the 1 person the doctors are wrong about. He is already supposed to have died from it. His brother Anton the detective says that their parents had thought they outlived Vincent. He tells Irene that anything is possible and that his heart is something "around 10,000 beats overdue." This isn't about his selfishness, it's about trying to realize his dream. It seems pretty apparent by the end that he is that 1 out of the 100 that is healthy and overcomes the odds of making it to space.

If there was nothing wrong with his heart, why did he have to conceal his heartbeat? He wasn't just hiding a probability of a heart problem, he already had the heart problem and was hiding it. Remember we get to hear a small bit of it at the end of the excersize scene, and it is seriously wonky.

People today outlive medical predictions of their life left, and that's great. I have a dog with a wonky heart that should technically be dead now, and I'm happy he's not. I just don't see us agreeing to send a guy with a serious heart condition into space, just because he hasn't died of it yet.

The reason he concealed his heartbeat is cause he was obviously not able to sprint the entire 20-25 minutes. Lets be realistic, most average, non-athletic people can't sprint for an entire 20 minutes and maintain a steady, regular heartbeat. The valids he is running against you could say are of world class or Olympic caliber, almost superhuman. Most of these people have no genetic faults whatsover. This is proven constantly when Anton beats Vincent in the swimming 9 times out of 10. It has nothing to do with Vincent's heart, it has to do with Anton being genetically superior and stronger. Vincent's heart is racing at the end of that scene since he obviously can't keep up with such a pace. Sure his heart is beating faster and harder, but he isn't as physically gifted as the valids. He was shown pushing himself with the hanging situps and no ill effects, no heart attack or problems occurred.

My main thought is that Vincent doesn't have a heart condition. When he is shown as a little kid, the parents treat him as if he's so fragile and unhealthy. My guess is that he wasn't sick at all and just a product of being told that he was so sick.

That's the point though, isn't it? If he isn't healthy enough to legitimately pass the trials, he's not healthy enough to go on the space trip. Also, his heartbeat wasn't just fast, it was irregular.

Take the genetics out of that scene. They aren't being tested for genes, they're being tested for physical fitness. If a man, today, was trying to become an astronaut but couldn't pass the physical trials, do you think he should be allowed to go into space?

You can't take the genetics out of the scene, that's the point of the entire film. He's obviously plenty healthy to run from police, beat his genetically enhanced brother(a valid). Gattaca's trials are for valids, not invalids, you can't exactly compare Vincent's physical health and stamina to that of somebody who is genetically superior in all aspects. Vincent is shown to be the best navigator in all of Gattaca, a place full of people enhanced mentally, ( the director says to him, "no errors in a million keystrokes" or something to that extent). If his physical health is only a bit below that of a valid, then yes I would send him into space.

The point of the film is that if it weren't for the stigma of having "bad genes," Vincent wouldn't have to lie. The point is that he's as capable as his genetic superiors, as his navigational skills show.

However, the film loses the plot when it shows that he's not as capable in the physical department. And I don't just mean in relation to the others. A genetically "perfect" person who never excercized would still be fat and unfit. In contrast, Vincent is very much in shape, but his heart is wonky.

BTW, here's the requirements for astronauts now:
http://flightphysical.com/part67/67subb.htm#b67111

Of particular interest is this part:
I think Vincent would fail that part.

Why not? You compare his mental skills with those of his "superiors," and he came out on top. So obviously genes aren't the only factor. You want to play it both ways, cheering Vincent for his superior mental skills but brushing off his obviously potentially deadly heart condition.

The question is, was the physical trial unnecessarily restrictive? Was it more that what was actually required for space travel? Nothing in the scene indicated that it was. Remember, this wasn't a test intended to test their genes, it was to test if they were physically healthy enough to endure the trials of space travel.