Shortly after that time, "2001 - A Space Odyssey" was released at the Strand theater in glorious 70 mm and stereophonic sound. I remember telling my dad repeatedly that we needed to be there, possibly for the very first viewing. Alas, while the images were glorious and I was captivated by the first giant images of outer space, the movie somehow eluded me, especially the ending. I was unable to grasp the grand idea of Kubrick / Clarke and pondered over the last scenes of the movie, when astronaut Dave Bowman is sucked into the cavernous black interior of the giant monolith orbiting Jupiter.
It's a pity that his last words to Houston before he cuts off - "My god, it's full of stars" wasn't in the movie I saw. If it were, perhaps it would have been more comprehensible at the time. Needless to say, after Dave's encounter with the monolith, he embarks on a kaleidoscopic journey into the unknown, before his spaceship settles down in the middle of a hotel suite in the middle of some strange, alien like world, in a reality so far from our own, as to be almost unintelligible to the human way of thought.
The final image, when the movie ends, with Dave seeing himself literally age and die, is a giant child in an embroyonic cocoon, the "star child", that was supposed to mark the next evolution of humankind - from ape to man to starchild.
Of course, when I saw the movie for the first time, I was still a boy, barely out of 5th grade. However, those images lingered with me long after, prompting me to read a lot about the space exploration program as well as develop a lifelong interest in sci-fi.
In 2001, Arthur C Clarke borrows on a lot of ideas from various works he has written throughout his career and paradoxically, when the book 2001 came out, it was based on the movie and not the other way around.
The ideas explored in this seminal movie are staggering, to say the least. First of all, there is a premise that intelligence, which is so rare a commodity in the universe for a species, was not accidental, but nurtured, even created by an external non-human entity or intelligence of sorts. They create a monolith which travels various worlds, seeking to seed and nurture intelligence among species which are capable of being manipulated, for their own benefit and development.
To this end, the monolith appears at the dawn of man, when the first homonid type creatures walked the surface of the planet. To these early ape-like creatures that resembled men in that they walked upright and had large brains that were still undeveloped in their functioning, the idea of developing tools had not yet formed in their minds. They spent all day foraging for berries and other food, mostly shrubs or roots or maybe even insects, while abundant game (in the form of tapirs) was right next to them, in competition for these same food sources. However, since they had no tools and were ill-equipped physically to kill these animals, having no sharp teeth, the idea of using them for food had not occurred.
There is also some competition with another group, as water is scarce but each group has no wherewithal to dominate the other group and resorts to mere shows of bravado through loud noises and aggressive posturing. Enter the monolith from outer space one morning.
Curious, the apes approach this monolith, which begins its work of using some kind of rays or other technology to alter / stimulate their brains, by creating new pathways and forcing them to develop intelligence. Within days, one ape finds that he can use a bone as a tool and with that, smash other bones and eventually, kill one of the tapirs for food. From then on, it is a short leap to establish dominance over their rival group.
Kubrick wastes no time in developing this idea. Once the first tool is developed, it is inevitable that man will one day reach out and explore beyond the confines of the Earth. This is shown in one simple, extraordinary cut - from the shot of a bone flying up into the sky to end up in deep space, where we see the giant circular wheel of the space station slowly rotating to create artificial gravity for its inhabitants.
The monolith appears again, in 2001, this time discovered by men exploring the moon, due to the powerful magnetic field it generates. Buried for over three million years, the monolith is eagerly uncovered, probed and tested by various scientists trying to deduce its composition, purpose and also get a clue as to its original creators. Freed at last on the moon, the monolith sends a screeching signal to its counterpart in orbit around Jupiter, possibly signaling that it has been found.
After that, the rest of the movie is about the long voyage to Jupiter, with an artifical person on board, a computer called "Hal". I think this movie is way ahead of its time, as it explores what it means to deal with an intelligence that has no human form, but only a single point of light, a red, domed porthole that glows. However, it communicates in perfect English with the astronaut and as we really get deep into the mission to Jupiter, exhibits its own personality and very human-like traits - deception, jealousy etc.
Many have criticized the movie for its slowness of pace but given the grandeur of its ideas and the way everything unfolds, I think this criticism is unfair and possibly, those people had no understanding of the movie at all.
All in all, I would rate the movie five stars out of five and if anyone finds it boring, I would attribute it to their lack of imagination, not the movie's, which is spectacular, even brilliant in its own way. There is not much by way of acting, as there are no dramatic scenes. However, there is drama involved, especially in the scenes between the lone astronaut, Dave, the surviving crew member and Hal, the computer.
The movie, at the end, leaves more questions than answers. The unknown intelligence responsible for stimulating the development of intelligence in man had finally collected a specimen in its fully evolved 21st century version and transported it to its own world at the other end of the galaxy, or perhaps, even a different galaxy than our own. There, it modifies the specimen (Dave Bowman) again, creating the next phase for the evolution of man - a starchild, with the expectation that this being will conquer space, like man has conquered Earth. Of course, all this is not literally depicted in the movie but left to the imagination of the viewer and to be frank, without a proper reading of the book, all the concepts in the movie cannot be grasped intellectually, solely based on the imagery.
I think this is the primary reason Arthur Clarke decided to release a book of the same name, based on the movie, which shows their joint vision - I say joint, as Kubrick's ideas are as much a part of the movie as Arthur's.
If you still haven't seen the film or if you saw it but got bored or didn't like it, go rent or buy one, I think you'll see the difference, after reading this review, and I'm sure you'll also appreciate the genius of Kubrick and the way he tells his story through pure visual imagery, which is the fundamental method by which one should communicate in film.
The opening shots are great, with desolate scenes showing the primordial landscape, through a series of still shots with the movie camera. Some of the images are Ansel Adams like, only difference being that these are all in color, in varying degrees of light, something that Kubrick explores very well, with subtle nuances showing the passage of time.
Well, I didn't expect to post after such a lengthy period of time but I wanted to reflect on the film and get my thoughts in order before writing.
