So I managed to catch "Gravity" over the weekend with my wife after I read that James Cameron called it "the best space film ever done" and wow, what can I say, not only is the visual effects stunning, the movie is also embedded with philosophical elements. It touches on existentialism, deism and the agnostic nature of the transcendence. Despite the philosophical baggage, the plot is surprisingly bold and refreshingly simple.
The story is about Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a medical engineer on her first mission to repair the Hubble telescope. She is accompanied by Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a veteran astronaut, who has a short but necessary presence in the movie.
Matt Kowalsky: "Beautiful, don't you think?"
Dr. Ryan Stone: "What?"
Matt Kowalsky: "The sunrise… terrific"
After the debris bombardment, you can immediately notice the difference in perception between the two. Matt(George Clooney) comments frequently on the astonishing and wondrous beauty of Earth and the cosmos passing before his eyes, Ryan(Sandra Bullock) however, sees little more than a dead indifferent universe at work bringing death and destruction.
Ryan(Sandra Bullock) also talked about her four-year-old daughter who had a fatal accident back home. Ever since that incident, she had plunged herself into a deep depression, which manifested to her isolation from others. Unprepared for the large number of life-and-death decisions she must make, Ryan(Sandra Bullock) is worn out and ready to give up. She has nothing to live for, her daughter is gone and she found no meaning in life. There was one part in the movie where she admits she would pray if someone had taught her how to do it. Tuning in to a transmission from Earth and hearing some dogs in the background, she practices barking. She also listens with fondness to a lullaby being sung.
These scenes, in my view, is trying to depict the existentialist's will to live. Ryan(Sandra Bullock)'s seems to be trying to clutch on to anything that she could find, in order to give her the justification for survival. The void of space sets a reductionistic approach to show how just the will itself, can be the only reason for one's choice to keep struggling in spite of the seemingly insurmountable odds.
I just watched this as well this afternoon.
ReplyDeleteSlow movie but great thriller and many insides in life which you have covered but people doesn't take notice of it.
Thanks Brian, you are right to say that this movie is simple, and abrupt when people look at it in a very literal sense. Definitely not a normal hollywood movie :)
ReplyDeleteI found this review fascinating because it seems to me that from similar approaches to the material, we took away almost opposite conclusions. For instance, rather than emerging in spite of "philosophical baggage," the simplicity of the plot and the strong visual narrative allowed for that interesting depth of metaphor without ever feeling pretentious, IMO. I also think that the journey of Bullock's character is less a celebration of the existential will to live, and more about what happens when that drive is no longer enough in the face of darkness she experiences both internally and externally. I explore these ideas at more length in a recent blog post (http://wp.me/s3TIkQ-gravity), and I'd be really interested in your reaction to my reading of the film. One highlight here for me was the contrast in perception you note between Clooney's and Bullock's characters. Clooney never quite made it into my review, so I hadn't spent much time thinking about that.
ReplyDeleteHi Semigeekly,
DeleteYou have a very nice and detailed write up on Gravity. I am inspired by this part of your article where you mentioned the ubiquitous juxtaposition of the vibrant light of earth with the dark desolation of space and that the protagonists is orbiting somewhere between.
This makes so much sense. Bullock's character is trying to get back into earth which could be a metaphor for life.