2001: A Space OdysseyThe first thing almost everyone remembers about 2001: A Space Odyssey is the epic theme of Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss; but what is less often remembered is the overture that precedes it...and the darkness what came before. "In the beginning, there was darkness." I remember hearing that filmmaker Stanley Kubrick sarcastically commented regarding 2001 that he was making a $12 million religious picture. Perhaps this is true, although it defies conventional placement in popular religion. The film is--in effect--an elaborate metaphor for a creation myth, where we come from, how we became what we are...and where we are going.
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2001 (for short) runs 142 minutes, although only 44 minutes or so contain dialogue. This stylistic choice is often identified as "pure cinema", which is the premise that a movie can tell a story without a significant amount of dialogue or similar exposition, but with sound and image. While the film is not wholly committed to this dogma, the message is there, and is particularly evident since we have no dialogue for roughly the first twenty minutes (nor for the last). The events that ultimately bring us to our "near future" in the year of 2001--the film was made in 1968--are tied to the very "Dawn of Man", formally titled from the start. According to 2001, ours was a humble beginning, scavenging and hiding from predators; in short, we were animals, primates. But everything changed with the arrival of "the monolith", a black slab standing straight up, appearing practically out of nowhere, perhaps even accompanied by the eerie music that follows the film's score. What is it? That remains one of many mysteries open to interpretation--and what better way to represent that metaphor of something unknown and alien? The primates' response is understandable--and is revisited somewhat later--but the effect of the exposure is apparent. A leader primate--referred to as "Moon-Watcher" in the novel of the same name by Arthur C. Clarke--becomes endowed with a kind of understanding, a knowledge. Principally, this knowledge (bestowed or awakened) affords him an understanding of tools...or weapons, more accurately. And this leads to him and his clan devouring the flesh of the unaware creatures surrounding them, changing them forever from scavengers to hunters, from prey to predators. This kind of knowledge shares uncanny similarities to a kind of "original sin", and with a somewhat more graphic metaphor--a hunk of flesh versus an apple. In short time, Moon-Watcher establishes dominance, and with the "longest match cut in history (spanning four million years)", we come to the beginning of the next stage in our evolution, leading to a parallel event, one which sends us out to the the depths of space.
Aboard the Discovery One, two astronauts--Dave Bowman (Kier Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood)--along with three in cryogenic sleep, make the voyage across the solar system to Jupiter, the reason for which remains elusive for now, but it's not hard to ascertain that this is also part of this string of events, one perhaps as old as four million years. We are also introduced to HAL-9000, more colloquially known as "Hal". Hal is the ship's computer, responding by voice to Dave and Frank, who behaves like a companion, but still unquestionably a computer to them--not a person. But Hal's actions are not uniform with a simple program; in fact, he comes across as what has now more popularly become known as an "artificial intelligence", a being possessed of free will created by man from artificial components. Again, revisiting the idea of the creation myth, since Hal was created by Man, this too conjures up another phrase from Genesis: "You shall be as gods". Of course, since this line of dialogue is attributed to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the suggestion is that the monolith--and its presenters--may not be so holy by association. The idea that Hal is a sentient creature independent of the automation of a mere computer begins after he misdiagnoses the AE35 antenna, which he claims will fail. When Hal is revealed to be in error, but refuses to own up to the mistake, Frank and Dave come to the conclusion that Hal is faulty and needs to be disabled...well, Hal doesn't take that very well. Does Hal make a mistake? Does he intentionally misdiagnose the antenna for some reason? Maybe it doesn't matter; what does matter is that he fears--and that fear is what makes him alive, something Dave and Frank grossly misidentify. Once Hal and Dave reach their "resolution", the film moves into its final act, and our history begins a new epoch, via a metaphysical rebirth. The overwhelming conclusion is filled with vast, alien landscapes and dazzling displays of light--a metaphorical transformation through time and space, a visual representation of what a new kind of step forward in our evolution might be like. These images are also paired with a kind of chamber piece representation of Dave and his existence, abstract and open to interpretation. My understanding is that this is something of a personal interpretation for Dave of the transformation he is undergoing, but like much of 2001, it could be something else, depending on your point of view. Like all of these observations and readings, many of them could vary for different people. That's one of the fascinating things about 2001--that like poetry, everyone's experience may diverge...maybe a little, maybe a lot. In a lot of ways, 2001 as a film is like that black monolith: it presents us something unconventional compared with many other films, challenges our understanding of it, and opens our mind to other possibilities--evolution in small doses.
Recommended for: Fans of science fiction that tackles big themes, but affords you the ability to address those themes on your terms. Also for fans of marvelously creative special effects given the era in which it was made, and for fans of classical music.
Aboard the Discovery One, two astronauts--Dave Bowman (Kier Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood)--along with three in cryogenic sleep, make the voyage across the solar system to Jupiter, the reason for which remains elusive for now, but it's not hard to ascertain that this is also part of this string of events, one perhaps as old as four million years. We are also introduced to HAL-9000, more colloquially known as "Hal". Hal is the ship's computer, responding by voice to Dave and Frank, who behaves like a companion, but still unquestionably a computer to them--not a person. But Hal's actions are not uniform with a simple program; in fact, he comes across as what has now more popularly become known as an "artificial intelligence", a being possessed of free will created by man from artificial components. Again, revisiting the idea of the creation myth, since Hal was created by Man, this too conjures up another phrase from Genesis: "You shall be as gods". Of course, since this line of dialogue is attributed to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the suggestion is that the monolith--and its presenters--may not be so holy by association. The idea that Hal is a sentient creature independent of the automation of a mere computer begins after he misdiagnoses the AE35 antenna, which he claims will fail. When Hal is revealed to be in error, but refuses to own up to the mistake, Frank and Dave come to the conclusion that Hal is faulty and needs to be disabled...well, Hal doesn't take that very well. Does Hal make a mistake? Does he intentionally misdiagnose the antenna for some reason? Maybe it doesn't matter; what does matter is that he fears--and that fear is what makes him alive, something Dave and Frank grossly misidentify. Once Hal and Dave reach their "resolution", the film moves into its final act, and our history begins a new epoch, via a metaphysical rebirth. The overwhelming conclusion is filled with vast, alien landscapes and dazzling displays of light--a metaphorical transformation through time and space, a visual representation of what a new kind of step forward in our evolution might be like. These images are also paired with a kind of chamber piece representation of Dave and his existence, abstract and open to interpretation. My understanding is that this is something of a personal interpretation for Dave of the transformation he is undergoing, but like much of 2001, it could be something else, depending on your point of view. Like all of these observations and readings, many of them could vary for different people. That's one of the fascinating things about 2001--that like poetry, everyone's experience may diverge...maybe a little, maybe a lot. In a lot of ways, 2001 as a film is like that black monolith: it presents us something unconventional compared with many other films, challenges our understanding of it, and opens our mind to other possibilities--evolution in small doses.
Recommended for: Fans of science fiction that tackles big themes, but affords you the ability to address those themes on your terms. Also for fans of marvelously creative special effects given the era in which it was made, and for fans of classical music.