I loved this movie.  It doesn’t hurt that it was directed by one of my favorite directors Alfonso Cuarón, and had two very appealing actors and it was about space.  Which made it even more awesome.  I know Neil DeGrasse Tyson had a fit about the movie because you can’t see the ISS from the Hubble, etc. etc.  I don’t care.  This wasn’t a NASA documentary.  It wasn’t a space disaster movie a la that terrible mess ARMAGEDDON.  It was a movie about rebirth and the courage to live.  About the fact that millions of years ago distant stars died, and sent what was left of them streaking across the galaxy to fall onto an insignificant ball of dirt and become life.  It was beautiful.

 

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Okay,  movie was symbolism.  It was metaphor.  It was philosophy.  It was about life and and children and continuance as are so many of Cuarón’s films — CHILDREN OF MEN, THE LITTLE PRINCESS, THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN.  I loved the fact that the opening card stresses that humans have no business being in space.  It is unlivable in way unmatched by any other environment.  It was great to see astronauts not “upright” but tackling their work from all angles because there was no up or down.  I loved the tip of the hat back to APOLLO 13 with having Ed Harris as the voice of  Mission Control.  I adore the choice that makes this movie about the woman rather than a man.

George Clooney as Matt, the tale telling astronaut drops out of the film quite early in the story and that was perfect because he is the sage, the guide.  He is Obi Wan Kenobi, and Obi Wan Kenobi has to die so the young Luke ( or in this case, Ryan) can learn to face adversity and succeed.  The little stories that he’s always starting are about the kaleidoscope of life that he has experienced.  He talks about his regrets that this is his last time, it’s almost over, and he makes the sacrifice for Ryan.  She promises to come get him, and that’s when I tensed up.  Was this about to become a typical Hollywood movie?

But no.  She doesn’t fly a re-entry vehicle over to find him.  He’s gone, but I loved, loved, loved the spirit scene as she’s starting to hallucinate.  There are all these calls to Freemasonry and the trials of the soul.  When Ryan first enters the ISS there are a few droplets of fire as she floats through a module.  It soon becomes a conflagration.  In the capsule ice begins to cover the windows.  I though having the books that she checks as she struggled to untether, and free her seed pod from it’s bonds were great.

This is a beautiful film on so many levels.  Yes the shots of Earth and the stars, but the way Ryan hung inside an airlock as a small embryo waiting to be born.  The globs of floating fire.  And Ryan’s silver tears floating slowly away from her face.  Breathtaking.

I probably could have done without the capsule actually sinking into the lake.  Just having her emerge from the water onto dry land, this small bit of star stuff returning to Earth to stand upright would have been enough, but the director wanted a full “birth” so, okay, I give him a pass on the capsule sinking.

There are just so many traditions and legends embodied in this movie.  In the opera the Magic Flute by Mozart Tamino and Pamina have to endure trials of fire and water before they can be reborn as masons. Cuaron added ice to Ryan’s trial and I thought that was perfect.

I think this is a movie of beauty and heart and thought, and I highly recommend it.  Just don’t go expecting to see George Clooney shooting a .50. calibre machine gun at space debris and saving the entire Earth.  This is a movie about rebirth.  So feel joy for Ryan’s return to life.