2001: A Space Odyssey- 5 Stars

Theatrical Release Poster

2001: A Space Odyssey is a film like no other. It has no readily discernible plot, the characters keep changing and it deals with a period of time stretching from the dawn of man to a futuristic sci-fi world. However, it not only succeeds in its aim to transcend normal film making but does in the process become one of the greatest films of all time. For 2001: A Space Odyssey is not a story but more of a visual journey centered on humanity and our progression from apes to humans capable of going into space to 'Ubermensch' as the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche put it in his book 'Thus Spoke Zarathrustra' (interestingly, the famous theme from the film is a piece of music named after Nietzsche's book- this is not a coincidence)

On the most basic narrative level 2001: A Space Odyssey can be broke down into 3 acts. The first is the Dawn of Man and details the early humans 'discovering' tools. The second contains the 'present' day humans discovery of a strange monolith and subsequent mission to Jupiter to try and unearth more about this mysterious object. The final act, and perhaps the strangest, shows the final stage of human evolution and the birthing of a 'starchild'.

The Godlike Starchild hovering above earth

However, even this apparently narrative structure portrays the theme of human evolution from ape to human to Ubermensch or Starchild. So what is director and co writer Stanley Kubrick actually trying to say here about evolution or is he just being completely pretentious? Well the linking theme between these acts is always the mysterious monolith. It appears at the beginning of the film during the dawn of man and appears to trigger the apes usage of tools. Then, in the second act it appears twice- firstly on the moon and secondly orbiting Jupiter. The second time it appears it opens a sort of portal to another world to which astronaut David Bowman is transported. The final time it appears is beside the death bed of Bowman as he dies and is replaced by a superior being. Each time the monolith is present a significant change happens in the course of human evolution. I would go further than this and say that in fact it is the cause of human evolution. In this way the monolith represents God, in Kubrick's own words, 'in his (God's) most purely scientific form'. i.e. God is but the agent for human development and evolution. When we take into consideration the Nietzsche-an philosophy that runs through the film this idea becomes even more interesting. Obviously Nietzsche's philosophy all revolves around the lack of existence of a God. Therefore what the monolith represents instead is mankind's idea of God. God is no longer his own existential being- he becomes an idea in the human mind, a way of explaining change. This idea is continued at the ending of the film when the Starchild is shown looking down on earth. It's superiority and air of transcendence mirrors that of God. I believe the message here is that God exists in the human mind and he is the next stage of our evolution. It is a scientific view of him drawing upon philosophical ideas from both Nietzsche and Feuerbach.

Hal 9000- man or machine?

Human evolution is also explored through the computer called Hal 9000. Hal is an AI unit that has reached the capacity of emotion that makes him seem human. The question now is to whether he is actually a real being or not- a question to which Dr Bowman responds that he 'doesn't know'. Hal certainly behaves like a human, more so in fact than the actual humans on the ship. He makes a mistake, is paranoid and is scared. The scene at the end where Hal begs Bowman not to unplug him and sings him the song 'Daisy' is the saddest and most emotional moment in the whole film. The juxtaposition of the humour of the monotone voice saying 'take a stress pill' with the genuine emotion in the lines 'Dave I'm scared' and 'I'm afraid. Stop Dave.' makes the scene even sadder. In the end though, Hal's existence is necessary for the next stage of human evolution to happen. The humans are completely apathetic throughout the film e.g. Bowman viewing a birthday message from his family with no discernable emotion. It is only when the results of Hal's mistake (the mistake caused by Hal's own worry about the mission) that the humans actually take any action and fight for their survival. This fight, or survival of the fittest, results in the appearance of the monolith allowing human evolution to be taken to the next stage. Hal also represents the theme discussed in the previous paragraph of mankind becoming a Godlike being- just as God create humans, the humans have created their own sentient being.

The Dawn of Man: one of the most famous scenes in movie history

Technically speaking, this film is utterly majestic. It's a Kubrick so of course there are countless numbers of clever shots (with the aging scene being the most obvious of them) but the simple breathtaking space visuals are spectacularly beautiful, especially when combined with the classical music which compromises the score. The satellites almost do a dance to the music, spinning and turning in time. It truly is absolutely stunning. The performances are also all solid although there it must have been difficult for the actors because the film rarely focuses on any one character for a sustained period of time with the exception of Bowman. The fact that this film looks better than the original Star Wars yet was made a little less than a decade before shows how little this film has aged. Seriously, these are some great effects. Better than most of the CGI crap nowadays at least...

Well I think it's fair to say I loved this film. It is now tying with Apocalypse Now for my best film but I am going to watch it again because it certainly seems like the kind of film that needs to be watched more than once. I would recommend this film to any sci-fi or film lovers because of the spectacular space visuals, influence on pretty much every subsequent sci-fi film ever and just the fact that it is so influential a film. Also anyone philosophically inclined or who likes a film that makes them think hard will enjoy this film. Do not expect a light hearted space adventure or anything like that though.

Ratings: Entertainment: 10 Technical: 5 Intelligence: 5= 20/20 *****

Note: this film is not perhaps what most people would class as entertainment. However, it does have a certain gripping quality to it and I certainly found it difficult to look away hence the 10.









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