Blue danube for ever

Rating: 10/10 (3 October 2003)

I am interested if other people had the same experience. Of course, the movie itself cannot be overestimated. What makes it so very special to me still is that it also was a rare moment in cultural history: that the art of the past (classical music from Strauss to Ligety) met the (relatively new) art of cinema. With 'met' I mean that Kubrick really merged the two art forms in one. At certain moments in the movie, I wondered if I was moved more by what I saw than what I heard, or by what I saw and heard. Very special is the famous cut from the apes to the space century. Special also because of the move from silence (20 minutes no talk, still an astonishing achievement in movie making) to Johann Strauss, from apes to 'civilization'. And to me special as I learned to like (even love in a way) the Strauss music. Like the secrets of the greatest pieces of classical music are hard to explain (why are we moved by the 9th symphony of Beethoven?), Kubricks masterpieces have also some untouchable quality, and will remain a milestone in the development of art in future centuries.