A Space Odyssey is actually A Life Journey - Death orients us to find itself!

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2018)

Stanley Kubrick, a master of hiding metaphor in scenes and manipulating ambient musics, once again, hits the movie industry and sets a milestone in movie history. Though 2001 tells a slow story, in contrast, it gives us more time and breath to savor the scene and its meaning hid inside.
The most pondering metaphor, out of question, is an alien black monolith in tombstone-like shape which is also the reason why the odyssey is commenced. Than I realize the odyssey is actually a human's life journey! Death, represented by the monolith, orients us to find death itself!
Let's simply call the monolith, 'the stone'. First, the tombstone-like shape apparently implies the death, yet 2001 doesn't just conclude on it. In the film, the stone first appeared in Cenozoic period when apes, our ancestors, live. Upon the stone emerging, the apes, being startled at first, start caressing it. This means if a new species evolves, death, indeed, befall it, including human, and that every species holds death in awe. Than the second appearance of the stone is found on the moon, which is also classified. People know nothing about it except its radioactive emission aiming at Jupiter. Hence, the stone guides a crew of five people toward Jupiter to find the answer or more clues. However, the stone on the moon is classified, the crew doesn't know anything but only hears of something. Finally, Dr. Dave, one of the crew, learns the whole thing from a video while in the logic center of Hal which is an A.I. computer. What's under the stone on the moon is, instead of a corpse, an unconfirmed life waiting to be awakened! After learning it, Dave keeps flying toward Jupiter and suddenly gets himself in a time-and-space travelling which stops in a tidy and fancy room. He is stuck in the room, leaving himself getting older and older. Finally when he is struggling to hold the last breathe, the stone shows up in the room. Dave dies and a new life is awakened.
Life journey starts from birth and ends in death because we consider life linear. However, what if life is actually cyclic? Than there's no more need to separate birth and death! Hence, in this cyclic life journey, not only do we gradually step toward death, but it is also death that sets us to find itself! Just like the stone which Dave starts and ends! And as we continuously pass through 'this death point', we are dead and born, again and again.
2001 is not only a space odyssey but also a journey of life! Both of them are cyclic and endlessly circulate. These rules apply both on the biggest universe and on the smallest human's life!