Haunting

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2010)

Visually, "2001" haunts imagination. The special effects and scientific realism ground the unique iconography of this singular film.
Nevertheless, either "2001" is one of the greatest films I have seen or a trivial failure. My prejudice is for the first option. The one element that counters this judgement is the notion that the monolith somehow shaped evolutionary emergence. That distracts from an otherwise flawless film narrative. If one puts the monolith aside, the film narrative and iconography are highly tensive open to polyvalent interpretations and experiences.
Director Kubrick reveals how we hypnotize ourselves with technics that are in essence projections of our evolved nature. One manifestation of such technics is artificial intelligence and the nature of what is human. By some sort of legerdemain, Mr. Kubrick makes us feel pity for "the death" or shutting down of a computer more than we felt for the death of human beings. Realising this is chilling. My favourite moment in the movie is a slight facial movement of a pilot of the space station to moon space ship as it is about to land. I do think that this film is sexist.
Layers of symbol and surrealistic play enrich multiple viewings. Members of the department of philosophy at my old school, I have heard, dismissed classes to discuss meanings of this film. I think it unfair to compare too closely this film with the equally haunting "Blade Runner". They are parallel tracks. With the exception I made, "2001" remains a coherent work--a masterwork.