Silence, Space, and God

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2000)

Most of the reader reviews here, as you see, gush with praise for what is now a stock Sci-Fi masterpiece. There are, though, occasional exceptions. And this is good, since I think almost all great movies are characterized partly by having a large number of proponents and minority of vehement detractors. Both sides have been provoked by something in this film. That's greatness in a nutshell.
I think they're provoked by a number of things in this film. First of all, there are the profound, extended silences. Kubrick stuck deliberately to the physical and auditory realities of the situations during the film, sometimes choreographing them to classical music for an enhanced effect of synchronicity, hinting at unseen organization even before he presents it on-screen at the climax.
Then there's the clean, spare imagery. Not only in when Floyd goes to the Moon, but also the Discovery trip. There's even a certain cleanliness to the "Dawn of Man" prelude in it's desert landscape. Compare this to the dystopic, "dirtier" imagery of films like "Blade Runner" or "Star Wars", action films which have proven more popular. Such "Star Trek"-like cleanliness gives us something both to aspire to and to fear. Will life really be that straightforward and simple?
Lastly, of course, is the film's unwillingness to explain itself to the audience, a much-derided aspect of it. This I understand. Most people go see or rent a film to sit, relax, and be entertained. This gripe is the same gripe some people have against subtitled foreign films. They want to watch a movie, to relax, not to read or think or confront the philosophical issues that many when this movie came out (1968) were beginning to come up against regarding space and our relationship to it.
What would happen when we went to the moon, as we were so obviously about to do at that time? Would we find God? Would there be a limit to how far we would be allowed to permeate heaven? Viewed through the lens of its time, this film remains a deeply moving examination of our fears and hopes in the modern age.