2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey is not you're typical film. Most of the great films are cinematic, narrative, or visual  masterpieces; 2001 is all of these but it's something else entirely. It's a work of art. It's a film that is visually, narratively, and philosophically striking in every frame of its being. It's such a well crafted work of art that I personally believe the film should be put on display next to paintings in the Museum of Modern Art. Many films have attempted to capture the grand ideas created in 2001, but no one has truly ever been enable to capture the sheer mastery of the director known as Stanley Kubrick.

If Coppola is the Shakespeare of film, then Kubrick is the Da Vinci. Kubrick was a man who didnt see films as a series of scenes making up a narrative, he saw it as a single function entity that needed to be meticulously pieced together in Order to form a more perfect image. Kubrick's history as a still photography heavily influenced his directing style. A style so unique that it was actually named after him. When you hear someone say a film was Kubrickian that's where it's from. His use of the entire frame to tell the story visually is something that's oddly enough wholly his own. Lines being drawn to a specific point. The whole sot being in focus his use of only classical music instead of original accompaniment. All these elements make Kubrick one of the greatest and most unique filmmakers of all time.

Our story begins in well the beginning. It's prehistoric earth and we are with a tribe of apes who are constantly cold, hungry, bullied and worst of all, are low on the food chain. One day the apes awaken to find a massive black monolith looming over them. At first afraid, we soon realize the monolith is changing them, making them smarter. Soon the apes begin to use discarded bones as tools, and the hunting weapons, and then ultimately instruments of war. This "gift granted to them by the monolith allows the apes to become the dominant species of the earth and to further evolve into the human race. Millions of years later the human race has advanced into the space age. Commercial space flight is common place, he'll even Hilton has taken advantage of of the space industry with a floating hotel. But not all is well, as scientists have recently uncovered a second monolith buried under the moon's soil. They conclude it is extraterrestrial by natur and was purposefully buried. The scientist figure out that a third Monilith orbits Jupiter. And so a crew of explorers are sent out to investigate the monolith with the help of a super computer named HAL 9000. But as the explorers approach Jupiter they start to notice strange behavior in HAL as he begins gain sentience. Now the explorers ar eloped in a battle between man and machine as HAL schemes to murder the crew, and their hip draws ever closer to the ultimate answer to where we came from and where we are going.

Before I get to in death about this film I'd like to mention something. I actually know some people hate this film and consider it a tedious bit of pretentious garbage. Some of these people happen to be dear friends of mine. To those who feel that way I'll simply say you're all crazy and totally wrong. 2001: A Space Odyssey isn't just one of the greatest artistic pieces of our time, it is also one of the great philosophical studies of our time.  Just take moment to soak in what this film has to offer lookat the shots look at the attention to detail done in order to bring the film to life, my God just look at all the effort and passion that went into this thing. The second Perth of the film is pretty much all visuals, with very little dialogue but what we get are visual wonders that dazzl the mind if looked at correctly. The establishment of a perfect space culture is so well done in this film that people from NASA have gone so far as to say that Kubrick pretty much accurately portrayed how commercial space stations and aircrafts would have to function in order to provide comfort. Velcrow floors and artificial gravity ar just a few of the things that Kubrick nailed perfectly.

Once again this film is a philosophical masterpiece. The concepts brought up in this film are so thought provoking. In order to explore the themes of this film it's important to understand how this film is actually meant to be viewed. The film is actually separated into four smaller segments that are all connected by a single theme; the life span of humanity. In the first segment we are shown the apes which have been given the "gift" of intelligence by the unseen extraterrestrial force. What I love are the religious parallels done here. The extraterrestrial force seems more God like and divine than you'd see in a typical sci-fi adventure. They're never seen and yet their presence is always heavy. When we first see the monolith it appears to sprout from the ground like a tree. Perhaps a the "tree of knowledge"? Hmm. What ultimatley happens is the apes are now able to become self sustai ing but also far more greedy and willing to kill. Thus the apes invent war, which bares the question; was knowledge a curse on the human race? 

In the second segment we don't get a lot of development, but what we do get it is a lot of atmosphere. What has to be remembered is that this was what the year 2001 was projected to be like from the perspective of the sixties, if the space program had continued as it did during the Cold War. What we see is the end result of our gift of knowledge, which begins with a nuclear missile satellite. The idea of our fit being used to it's fullest is clarified en the astronauts excavate the moon to find the second monolith. Which directs th, to the third. This calls to mind the idea that the extraterrestrials were waiting for us to reach a level of intellect in which we would be able to reach the second monolith, and ultimately go out after the third one. 

the third segment deals with HAL 9000. in this segment we find the humanity bound for Jupiter in search of the third monolith. On the way all of humanities technology gains sentience in the form of HAL and attempts to eradicate them. This is humanities final test before the come face to face with the extraterrestrial force ( God) as I like to view it. If the extra terrestrial is o represent God then Hal himself represents the devil, and Technologie's use represents sin. Humanity, while being advancing them selves, have used technology for violence and self indulgence. This sin is embodied by the devil played here by HAL. Humanity must over come their sins in order to move on to the next plane and so in a final battle with the devil, The explorers are able to defeat HAL. Another thing to note is that visually Hal resembles the monolith, making him the true third monolith and thus the third test humanity must pass.

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The fourth and final segment is one of the more confusing and thought provoking points in the film. Having reached they're destination. Only one explorer survives. This man comes face to face with monolith and is granted access to the deepest reaches of space. The explorer sees worlds and anomalies never before witnessed by man, gaining fasts amounts of knowledge along the way. Eventually he is placed into physical manifestation of a place ve familiar to him and very peaceful. You will notice the use of steril white and the Victorian style decorations contrasting heavily with the high tech motif of the film. This is the explorers heaven the place where he will live I peace free of sin. But the monolith has more in store for the man. As the explorer's life nears an end. The monolith appears once more before him. Having comp,eted their long long journey. The monolith grants one last gift to humanity; the gift of evolution. And with that we see the end of humanity and the birth of a new race a species only known as the star child. Fully capable of living within the vacuum of space and living bond the need of technology. 

And that's 2001. People who don't like it tend to doping out the long drawn out seems. And lack of dialogue. But if people take the time to view the piece as a whole like you would a work of Art you'd find a single perfect experience. This is a classic among classics, something that shoud be sold in a leatherbound case to further exemplify its importance. It's such an amazing film and worth your time. Please, please for the lve of I'd see this movie.