Why Isn't This Your Favourite Film?

Rating: 10/10 (28 August 2008)

There are many things in life that baffle me; the world's ongoing fascination with Paris Hilton, the fact that Will Ferrell is a movie star, the inclusion of synchronised swimming as an Olympic event.
And why "2001" is not the favourite movie of everyone who has seen it.
Maybe its because it wears the SF label, but there's not a bug-eyed monster or a ray-gun or a noisy space dogfight in sight. Instead, there is mystery and murder, elegance and the everyday.
Maybe its because you have to decide what its about. Kubrick doesn't tell you. (Clarke tells you more if you read the book and Hyams tells you a bit in the sequel.) Is it about Nietzsche's idea that man is the missing link between ape and superman/starchild? Is it about God/god being simply a more evolved species than our own? Is it about natural intelligence versus artificial intelligence? (Both the monolith and HAL have power over humans). Is it about natural emotion versus artificial emotion? (Hal has never been evil to me; he is more like one of those super-intelligent kids who go to university at age 12 and can't cope emotionally with their environment. HAL, to my mind a victim of a form of emotional abuse (after all he is a child of only 9), doesn't know how to lie, but does possess a strong survival instinct.) Maybe its because the dialog is all but meaningless. Hardly anything of significance is spoken. It could almost be done as a silent film, but that would rob us of one of the most emotional scenes in cinema history - HAL begging for his rational life. You do have to listen to this film - but its the music that tells us the story; its the silence that tells us the story; its Dave's breathing that tells us the story.
Maybe its because you saw it on TV. This is not a TV movie; its not even a home theatre movie. This is a cinema movie. See it on the big screen. Anything less and its power and beauty diminishes dramatically. Feel it first and then think about it. And let its wonder consume you.
"2001". The. Best. Ever.