Best fim ever

Rating: 9/10 (7 November 2014)

I have watched this movie many many times, from 1968 (as a ten year old kid watching the space program develop), to today. I make a point to re- watch it at least once a year, and I never tire of it. I think it is the most brilliant, and misunderstood movie of all time. So many interpretations of the monolith and the plot in general have been written, I wont bother to summarize, only to give my own view. In simple terms the monolith is God. Black, totally mysterious, thwarting all efforts of mankind to figure out what it is. In the early scenes, the prehistoric humans are clearly dying out- easy prey for the leopard, and in spite of their intelligence, powerless to defend themselves. The monolith appears ( a metaphor for God, the creator, the great mystery), and teaches them aggression and the use of weapons, and a way to survive and dominate the earth. The other manifestations of God on the moon, and in Jupiters orbit- are an invitation (assuming mankind progresses to the point of being able to discover them and ask what they are) to discover, partially, why we are here and what our purpose is. On the way, man attempts to be God. Creating intelligence (HAL), and realizing finally that intelligence is only to be created by God. HAL, for all his technological brilliance, has been endowed with all the defects of man, and finally must be destroyed by his creators (is this mans fate too)? When Discovery finally reaches Jupiter and the third monolith, it is an invitation to discover the meaning of life. Through the infinite, and finally into the "room" at the end, Dr Bowman ages and becomes an old man. And at the end of life, God, the great mystery, appears again (the monolith). Bowman reaches out and is shown the ultimate meaning of our existence, at least all that God is willing to reveal to us: death and rebirth... the ultimate reason for the existence of anything- eternal propagation of life through continuous rebirth.