2001 A Space Odyssey

Fascinating, iconic and so silent.

This film has influenced a part of many of the creative projects that followed it. Watching it brings back memories of songs, shows and films made in more modern times that paid homage to this film. It’s hard to review personally as it is so open to interpretation. Each interpretation can depend on the person, the time they watch it and their own experience. But it seems this is the sole purpose of it.

This film brings in to question how far humans are willing to go to discover the secrets of space, and if it is even possible to discover it all. It also questions life itself, its origins and it’s purpose. The film stands the test of time phenomenally well. Despite it being released in 1968 it’s concepts hold up, as do its effects. The total silence of space is a big feature, it really highlights the loneliness of space travel in its steady pacing and minimal dialogue. HAL, the famous computer, brings in to question AI consciousness and does so with a unsettlingly smooth, calm voice even when under threat. Do computers feel fear? Responsibility? Guilt? The thing that sets this film apart is it’s way of leaving the story to the audience. On the surface, the film seems total madness, and it very well might be. But there are things inside this madness that make you think long after the credits have rolled.

It is a visual masterpiece and leads the audience to tackle huge existential concepts about life, where we come from and where we can go from there. I find myself thanking Stanley Kubrick for bringing this film to the world and setting off the hundreds of stories which try to make sense of it and expand on the small snippets of story in this huge film. If there is anything I’m a sucker for it’s a crazy AI and the expanses of space.

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