Epic

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2010)

Much has been said about Stanley Kubrick's 1968 epic 2001: A space Odyssey. Some have called the greatest movie ever made, others have called an exercise in psychedelia while others like Pauline Kael have called in unimaginative.
Of all the things I could say about 2001 unimaginative comes least to mind. 2001 is anything but that. It is movie wide in its scope. It tries to introduce within the mind an aspect of extraterrestrial life with such reality that you think you are observing a documentary or actually witnessing the events as they happen around you.
The film takes you right from the origin of man up to 2001 the year mankind finds the first sign of intelligent life in the universe outside of the earth. We meet Floyd as he sleeps in the aeroplane with the delightful Blue Danube Waltz playing in the background. From then we are taken on into a journey to the unknown. A journey to Jupiter to discover what is really out there.
The first time I saw the movie I gave up in half an hour. I though it was another one of those over rated movies. Another example of the emperor's new clothes. I read the book and was blown away. I think the book is integral the movie's experience. I returned to the movie and was amazed for two hours and fifteen minutes of brilliance.
Stanley Kubrick is definitely a visionary film maker. He has made a great film in every genre. Be it war,comedy, science fiction. When he set out to make 2001 all he wanted to make was "the proverbial good science fiction movie" and we landed up with this: an epic of such staggering beauty.
Credit must be given to Arthur C. Clarke. Anyone who has read his books especially Rendezvous with Rama must acknowledge the debt that 2001 owes to him. His vision and method of story telling is greatly entwined in the film . Especially the open ending and leaving interpretations to the viewer and the way there is more observation and discovery and less expounding of theory and giving answers.
2001 ends with 15 minutes of the most intense images. Those last few minutes are undeniably a psychedelic experience but they some how awaken a sense of such terrible beauty that you are overcome with emotion. What exactly does the black monolith lead to ? What is the place Bowman ends up in ?
2001 is one of the best movies ever made by one of the best directors of our time. Watch it to be taken into taken on two hour journey of breathtaking beauty, to scratch at the surface of the meaning of our existence and to speculate and maybe find an answer to our place in the universe