Finding A Way Home

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2015)

The fact that four days before the release of Ridley Scott's new sci-fi drama, The Martian, NASA announced they had found evidence of water on Mars fed into the zeitgeist moment which this film so eloquently captures. Ridley Scott, well-known for directing the Alien series of films, has returned with an edge-of-your-seat feature which confronts the lone human against space storyline in a refreshing way.
In The Martian, based on the best-selling book by Andy Weir, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is left for dead on Mars after his fellow astronauts lose contact with him in a storm. The five crew members, led by Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), abandon their mission on Mars and make their return journey to earth on the Hermes.
Meanwhile, Watney is declared dead by NASA, only to be discovered alive several months later. The key dramatic turn is that Watney has no way of contacting NASA, and vice versa. From here it is Watney's never give up attitude, science, and both NASA's and the crew's desire to bring him home that drives the plot.
Instead of the fear of aliens on distant planets, Ridley takes the audience on a visceral journey with Watney as he faces his fear of dying alone on Mars, a cold, waterless (as we understood at the time) wasteland. Survival is the name of the game. With the help of some disco music "I Will Survive" gets a spin, of course, and Watney's irrepressible wit, the botanist finds innovative ways to stay alive - all the while making botany look cool. Damon puts in a performance that is nuanced and understated, and along with a tight plot and humour, the character carries the viewer along on his journey. Documentary style video journal entries help draw us in to the triumphs and tribulations of the lone Martian's experience, while sweeping cinematography (shot in the deserts of Jordan) show us the extent of his vulnerability, alone on this vast, red planet.
For those of us who grew up watching the space shuttle missions NASA introduced us to the innovative, exciting possibilities of science. So, in the film when Watney declares, to survive Mars, "I'm going to have to science the sh*t out of this!" it's a punch the air moment. Although science buffs will notice a few mistakes in The Martian - all for the sake of storytelling - NASA was consulted extensively during the scriptwriting process. The space agency's efforts to bring Watney home help move the plot forward, and introduce some plot-twisting tension, especially when the - almost forgotten - Hermes crew members become involved.
The Martian sits comfortably as a companion piece to Cuaron's Gravity; both films strip their characters down to their bare essence, using space as a metaphor for the fragility of human life, and a backdrop for the triumph of the human spirit. What The Martian displays is Scott's skill as a storyteller who understands the strongest and most base of human feelings; fear, the will to survive, the depths of loneliness and the inexplicable pull to return home. All the while revealing the possibilities which space exploration ignites in the human imagination.