- Release Date: 02/04/1968
- Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
“Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth.
Now this is an interesting number, for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe, the Milky Way. So for every man who has ever lived, in this Universe there shines a star.” — Arthur C. Clarke
Made in the year 1968, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey‘ is one of those rare films that cannot be put into a single genre. It is one of the first films in which the motion picture form was twisted. It’s not drama, it’s not science fiction, and it certainly is not a documentary. Then what is it? I would personally call it as a Stanley Kubrick hallucinogen that takes its time to have its effect on your mind, but once it does, it’s one hell of a euphoria to get rid of. Sometimes even multiple views will not get you to understand the plot, not because it’s difficult to comprehend, but because there is no plot.
Let me try to put forward the proceedings in my own way. The film unfolds in three acts.
Act 1: The Dawn of Man:
In this first act, Kubrick takes us back in time when men were hairy black chimps with very little knowledge of civilization. They are shown eating raw flesh and fighting over ponds of muddy water. Then arrives a black Monolith. We are not told about its origin or power. We are in the dark, just as much as the early men. They, however, are not afraid to get in its proximity. The following day, intelligence dawns on the early men who discover the first weapon of war, a mace.
Act 2: The Moon Mission:
Men have landed on the moon and have been successful in setting up stations on it. The Russians and the Americans have been collaborating on it. There have been news and speculation of an outbreak at one of the stations called Clavius on the moon. Dr. Haywood Floyd (William Sylvester) is sent up to take stock of the situation. There have been no communications from the station for 10 days. When on Clavius, we know the real reason for the containment. The same Monolith, which inspired intelligence in the early men, is discovered buried under the surface of the moon. As the experts go over examining it, they suffer a complete sonar blackout, and before we realize anything more, Kubrick takes us straight into the third act. We are not told what happened to the men or the early men, for that matter.
Act 3: The Jupiter Mission:
The Jupiter Mission happens 18 months after the events on the moon, and the scientists and the crew on board are kept under tight wraps. The sixth member of the crew is, however, a supercomputer named HAL 9000, referred to only as Hal. Hal is inquisitive about the happenings and the way in which their mission was put up and starts asking questions. But a sudden fault in one of the system units of the ships leads one of the crew members to bring the faulty part on board. After intense testing, the crew and the computer are unable to find any faults in the part. The two crew members, Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), doubt that there might be something wrong with the computer. They contemplate on disconnecting Hal from the ship’s systems. Hal cannot accept this sudden loss of the men’s trust and, in desperation, shuts out the two awake astronauts and their other team members in hyper sleep in its own way.
What follows is an intense and thought-provoking piece of filmmaking that will leave you spellbound. “2001: A Space Odyssey” doesn’t follow a predefined path. It creates lanes for others to travel in the future. It forays into realms that we didn’t know ever existed, and our task, as viewers, is to make our way through it. I once heard that at its premiere, “2001: A Space Odyssey” suffered 241 walkouts, mostly from the top brass of the production company. Kubrick suffered a sleepless night before the movie found its calling with the moviegoers from the corresponding days on. After watching this film a few times, I can only imagine why the walkouts happened. One might find it tedious to start with, as there is very little dialogue, and it might seem that the scenes are prolonged and hardly give any push to the proceedings. But as soon as the viewer surrenders his senses to the lofty ideas, visual flair and the ensuing drama, the film will instantaneously captivate his/her senses.
Each of the three acts has an euphoric feel to it. The acts start off slowly and then gradually build up with ferocity and aplomb to end with such gusto that the corresponding act comes in like a sudden change of mood, pace and proceeding to the viewer. Take, for instance, the first act. In its culmination, the early man throws a piece of bone, which he was using as a mace to beat down the competition. As the mace flies up in the air and falls back down, it changes quickly into a spaceship, and thus begins the second act, centuries apart from the first and with beautiful and soothing music flowing in from all directions. The second act again makes its way into the third when you least expect it. As the visiting crew at Clavius is going berserk with the sonar interference, the scene changes in a flash into another spaceship, wherein we see one of the team members working out, and again with beautiful music playing in the background.
Kubrick does everything that we least expect him to do, and he surprises us in the best possible ways. The cinematography is something that will make you wonder for a long time. The total disrespect for the conventional dynamics and orientation of the positions is shocking. However, in space, it suits the atmosphere and adds to its vitality and vigor. Inside the studios, Kubrick successfully created a world to give us an out-of-the-world experience. The Academy Award that he won for the visual effects stands testimony to his achievement.
The performances are lifelike. The first act has men dressed up like apes, and yet their movements are in close proximity to what could have been the way the early men moved about. In the second act, William Sylvester essays a thoroughly satisfying cameo, subtly conveying the paranoia of the recent discovery. Keir Dullea takes over from him in the third act and takes us all the way to the culmination of the epic. We see him in a final scene, aged and almost dead, lying in his death bed with the monolith in close proximity. His disgust at the actions of Hal is again depicted with toned-down emotions that are still strong enough for the audiences to feel and resonate with. The score is astounding and is in close keeping with the theme. The production design is flawless and ripe with such highly detailed visuals that they could have been envisioned only by a man of Kubrick’s stature.
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‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ has reached a realm of unprecedented greatness and fan following for one particular reason. It can be interpreted in different senses by different viewers. As the film doesn’t offer any plot or any prologue and epilogue, it can be enjoyed and thought after in different perspectives. “2001: A Space Odyssey” stands as tall as the Monolith itself, as a symbol of why we still go to cinemas. It’s a dream realized with such ferocity and power that it will shake you to your core. Thank you, Arthur C. Clarke!!! And thank you, Stanley Kubrick!!!
Rating: 5/5 (5 out of 5 Stars)
The views expressed in this article are that of the reviewer and do not reflect EastMojo’s position.
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