"2001: A Space Odyssey"

Title: "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Producer: Stanley Kubrick
Editing: Ray Lovejoy

Composer: Gyorgy Ligeti
Other Music: Various waltzes and classical pieces.
Starring:
- Keir Dullea as Dr. David Bowman
- Gary Lockwood as Dr. Frank Poole
- Douglas Rain as The Voice of the HAL 9000

Plot and Critical Review:

The Dawn of Man
Over images of an African desert, a caption reads "The Dawn of Man." A tribe of herbivorous apes is foraging for food. One of them is attacked and killed by a leopard. They are driven from their water hole by another tribe. Defeated, they sleep overnight in a small exposed rock crater. Waking at sunrise, they find that a black monolith has appeared in front of their shelter. They approach it shrieking and jumping. Soon after that, one of the apes realizes how to use a bone as both a tool and a weapon. The apes have now learned how to take down prey, and are seen eating meat in a subsequent scene. The next morning, they wrest control of the water hole from the other tribe, killing its leader in the process. The ape leader throws his bone into the air, which switches via match cut from a close-up of the bone to a long shot of an orbital satellite millions of years in the future.

TMA-1
A Pan American space plane flies Dr. Heywood R. Floyd to Space Station 5 in an elaborate rendezvous and docking sequence which includes iconic and stylized representations of life on a space station. After clearing voice print identification, Floyd makes a videophone call to his daughter (Vivian Kubrick), to wish her a happy birthday. Strolling down the main corridor, he joins a group of Soviet scientists, telling them that he is on his way to Clavius Base, a US base on the moon. One of the scientists, Smyslov, queries him about what has been going on there, but Floyd declines to answer any more questions when they press him about the rumor that an epidemic has broken out at the US base.

Floyd travels to Clavius in a moon shuttle. There he heads a debriefing session apologizing for the epidemic cover story. Floyd’s mission is to investigate an artifact dug up on the moon, initially detected by its magnetic signal and named "TMA-1" ("Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One"). Geological evidence shows it was deliberately buried four million years ago. Floyd rides in a Moonbus to the site. In a large pit dug around it, the artifact is a monolith identical to the one encountered by the apes. The visitors examine the monolith and pose for a photo in front of it. As they do, the sun rises over the top of the monolith, which emits an ear-splitting tone.

Jupiter Mission
A title caption reads "Jupiter Mission: Eighteen Months Later." On board the spaceship Discovery One, bound for Jupiter, are two mission pilots, astronauts Dr. David Bowman and Dr. Francis "Frank" Poole, and three scientists in cryogenic hibernation. Bowman and Poole watch a BBC television story about the mission in which the TV audience is introduced to the ship’s on-board computer HAL 9000, which they address as "Hal", who runs most of the ship’s operations. BBC newsreader Kenneth Kendall notes that Hal seems to take pride in his work, as if he has genuine emotions.

Later, while Dave is showing Hal some sketches of the hibernating astronauts, Hal asks Dave about the air of mystery and secrecy surrounding the mission. Hal then interrupts himself to state that the AE-35 unit is going to fail in 72 hours. Dave takes an EVA pod to replace the unit with a spare. Frank and Dave examine the unit but they are unable to find anything wrong with it. They contact Earth-based ground control, and are told that their on-board HAL 9000 computer is in error predicting the fault. This is shocking, since the 9000 series has a perfect operational record.

Hal suggests placing the unit back and waiting for it to fail. Dave and Frank go into one of the EVA pods to talk without Hal overhearing them. Frank says he has “a bad feeling about it.” They decide to follow Hal's suggestion and replace the unit. Frank says that if Hal is wrong he will have to be deactivated. Unbeknownst to them, Hal is reading their lips through the window of the space pod.

Intermission

As Frank attempts to replace the AE-35, his space pod, controlled by Hal, turns and accelerates towards him, severing his oxygen hose and setting him adrift. Dave goes out in another EVA pod, but without his helmet or gloves, to recover Frank. While Dave is gone, the life functions of the crew in suspended animation are terminated. When Dave returns to the ship, he asks Hal to open the pod bay doors to let him inside. Hal refuses to do so, stating that Dave’s plan to disconnect him jeopardizes the mission. Risking death from anoxia, Dave enters the ship manually through the emergency air lock.

In his full spacesuit, Dave makes his way to HAL's LOGIC MEMORY CENTER in order to disconnect Hal. As Dave disconnects one memory module after another from Hal’s circuitry, Hal continues to protest. When Hal is disconnected, a monitor displays a pre-recorded message from Dr. Heywood Floyd:

"Good day, gentlemen. This is a prerecorded briefing made prior to your departure and which for security reasons of the highest importance has been known on board during the mission only by your H-A-L 9000 computer. Now that you are in Jupiter's space, and the entire crew is revived, it can be told to you. Eighteen months ago, the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried 40 feet below the lunar surface, near the crater Tycho. Except for a single, very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter, the four million year old black monolith has remained completely inert, its origin and purpose still a total mystery."

Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite
Dave leaves Discovery One in an EVA pod and encounters another monolith in orbit around Jupiter. Approaching it, he finds himself suddenly traveling through a tunnel of colored light (termed the “Star Gate” in the novel by Clarke) racing at great speed across vast distances of space. He eventually finds himself in a bedroom. He repeatedly sees older versions of himself, with the film's points of view each time switching to an older Dave. Finally an elderly and dying David Bowman is lying on the bed. At its foot a monolith appears. It transforms him into a fetus-like being enclosed in a transparent orb of light (termed the “Star-Child” by Clarke). The final shot of the film shows the “Star-Child” floating in space next to the Earth.

"2001" came at exactly the right moment for where motion picture engineering and production was during the late 60s. Kubrick pioneered several special effect techniques that took the viewer into the dimensions of cinematic experience previously unknown. While it wasn't the first movie to break ground in this particular discipline, it is arguably one of the most influential. Modern viewers might have a difficult time with the tragically slow pace of "2001", not to mention the lack of dialogue. Nominated for 4 Oscars, "2001" was decorated with Best Special Effects. "2001" is a film that deserves our admiration and appreciation as it paved the road for many of the sci-fi/fantasy/effects-driven films we love and enjoy today.

My Rating: 8/10

Content to Caution:
V-3 – While not gory, the sequence in which the chief ape kills the leader of the opposing tribe is brutal.
L-0 – Very little to no cursing or abusive language.
DU-0 – No comment.
RT-1 – Nothing to note outside of primitive issues surrounding the behavior of one tribe of apes toward another.
H/S-2 – The violence of the apes and Bowman's flight through space/time may be disturbing for some.
CH-0 – No comment.
S/N-0 – No comment.

The "Reel Revelation": "Making Sense of the Signs"

It is a foundational part of our human nature to watch for signs. When we learn to drive we must humble ourselves and obey the instructions of the many signs of the road; STOP, YIELD, MERGE. When we learn cook we learn how to tell whether certain items of food are ripe or spoiled. When we come into relationships with new people we learn their set of personal "signs"; the way they tell us they're happy, sad, or in need of comfort. Most signs are fairly obvious in their instruction; we must STOP when we're told to and we shouldn't buy red apples that have turned brown. But what about those signs that aren't so clear, the ones that seem ambiguous and indefinite? It's then that we enter into another foundational human habit...we interpret.

"2001" is a film that lends itself to all sorts of interpretations, but what is actually being said in this motion picture? Is it an allegory for man vs man conflict? Is it a warning against the dangers of technology and technological dependence? Or is it a "God" story in which we learn that all life is born, dies, and is then reborn into another plane of existence? Which is it?! All of the above or none of the above?

Do you remember the Old Testament story of Joseph, especially when he was being held as a prisoner in Egypt? It was during his incarceration that Pharaoh began to have a series of disturbing dreams. Here's what we read from Genesis:

"Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have had a dream but no one can interpret it; and I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it." Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." (Genesis 41: 15-16 - See Gen. 39-41 for that part of the story.)

Do you recall what happens next? Indeed, Joseph is able to explain to Pharaoh what his dreams mean and in the end he establishes great favor in Egypt.

Has someone ever asked you to interpret the meaning of something happening in their life? Maybe you've heard a friend ask "What is God up to?" or "What does this mean?" They are, in their own way, searching for interpretation. Think back to the difference between definite (STOP!) and indefinite signs (like the shelf date on a milk carton). Which do you find more of in your life? I'll break the ice and admit that I find a staggering number of indefinite signs all around me.

So how do we interpret? How do we move past the signs and find the Truth in the midst of uncertainty? Faith. Like Joseph we must approach the unknown parts of life with faith and confidence in God. Remember what Joseph said, "It is not in me: God will give..." Indeed, God will give us the explanation we require; not necessarily the explanation we prefer or demand, and not necessarily in accordance with our own scheduling. In seeking interpretation we must also learn to hold the unknown against "the light" of what we know is most certainly true, the Bible. When you search for interpretation, do so with your heart and mind tethered to Scripture, the Answer of Answers. While the work of intrepretation is in the movement of the Holy Spirit, we may confidently approach the Bible in search of explanations to life's questions. There, in the many stories and accounts provided we will learn the lessons taught by God to those who faced trials (and all sorts of unclear signs) and cried out, "Why?"

In this season of Lent may you look within your life and seek to discover God's interpretation of the indefinite signs around you. If you struggle to find an answer, look to the most definite sign of all, the Cross. It is there that God's most definite and unmovable message for our lives has been written in the sacrifice of Jesus: "I Love You. You Are Mine. I Love You."

See you tomorrow - E.T.