2001: A Space Odyssey

The subject of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is evolution--human evolution, to be specific. However, Kubrick isn't concerned with biology. The film addresses broader issues of human existence than the origins of life. Early in the film we see man as a lower form of primate, but we don't see him develop the ability to walk up-right or speak a language. What we do see is man develop the ability to use tools (weapons, actually), and with that development modern man is born.

The scene where the first primates learn to use tools is preceded by a scene where they are visited by a mysterious black monolith. It is apparent that the monolith was sent by an extra-terrestrial intelligence to speed along the species' evolution. Why they want to do this is unclear. An appearance by a physical being may have cleared that up, but one of the strengths of the film (especially as a work of science-fiction) is that Kubrick stays away from anything that had been done before. Popular physicist Michio Kaku has called 2001 "perhaps the most realistic depiction of an encoutner with an extra-terrestrial civilization." It's difficult to say whether a depiction of something that has never happened is realistic or not. However, one cannot help but agree that the depiction of extra-terrestrial contact has an element of realism to it. Realism that would have been lost had Kubrick decided to depict an actual, physical being.

The film's story is divided into three distinct sections. The first deals with the primates coming into contact with the monolith and developing the ability to use tools. The second section begins with one of the most startling jump cuts in film history (when a primate throws a bone into the air and it suddenly becomes a spaceship) and follows NASA employee Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) to the Moon where humans have uncovered another monolith. The final section deals with the Jupiter mission led by the astronauts Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood) and the super-computer HAL 9000 voiced by Douglas Rain (fans of the film have speculated about the fact that HAL's initials are only one letter away from IBM's, but screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke insists that it is only a coincidence).

When the audience first meets the crew of the Jupiter mission, the movie is well into its second hour. However, it is only then that we meet the first interesting and empathetic (and truly human) character in the film--the computer HAL 9000. The story until this point has traced humanity's developing conciousness, and this is mirrored in HAL's developing awareness of his own individuality and mortality. The scene when Dave Bowman must deprogram HAL, after HAL has killed Frank Poole and tried to lock Dave out of the ship, is the one truly emotional moment in the film. It is only after Dave has deprogramed HAL that the intentions of the Jupiter mission are made known to him.

What follows is one of the most visually exciting and truly cryptic sequences in all of cinema. Bowman travels through space (which looks like a psychadelic light show) and across dessert landscapes, finally arriving in a small bedroom. Over a few minutes, the audience (and Bowman) sees Bowman age from a young man to an old man dying in bed, only to see him reborn again moments later as the mystical star-child. It's not made explicit what this means exactly, but it is not necessary to know. What is clear is that Bowman, like the early primate who used tools for the first time, has reached the next stage in man's evolution.

Considering the film was released a year before the U.S. landed on the moon, it is incredible to think of how much Kubrick and his special effects team got right in terms of the reality of space travel. This has a lot to do with the talents of special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull (who also did the special effects for Blade Runner) and the experts that Kubrick consulted to ensure every detail was as realistic as possible. But it also has a lot to do with Kubrick's notorious attention to detail. Had Kubrick been lazy about something or compromised in any way it's doubtful that the visuals would have been as effective as they are.

2001 is truly the great special effects movie, but it is also a great musical movie. After seeing the film one can hardly listen to Johann Strauss' "Blue Danube" and not think of ships floating through space and the calming effect of weightlessness. Richard Strauss' "Thus Spake Zarathustra" has become so closely connected with the film that I have often heard it refered to as "the theme to 2001." Originally, Kubrick had commisioned a score by composer Alex North. However, when Kubrick began editing the scenes he set them to classical music, and once he had seen how well the images matched the music the original score was scrapped. Alex North's score has since been recorded, and although it is a perfectly enjoyable piece of music it is impossible to imagine 2001 set to any other sounds.

It's difficult to think of another great director who worked in such varied genres to such great success. Kubrick's many great works include the war film Paths of Glory, the Cold War comedy Dr. Stranglove: or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and the horror film The Shinning. Each is as different from the other (and 2001) as is possible, but each film attains it's own unique kind of perfection.

2001 is a film that is as maddening as it is enthralling. It has been called slow, and one can understand why. It is a film where nothing seems to happen, yet everything does happen. In his great movies essay on the film, Roger Ebert (who was at the film's L.A. premier) writes of Rock Hudson infamously storming down the aisle muttering "Would someone tell me what the hell this is about?" Although not everyone stayed, Ebert writes, "those who remained until the end knew they had seen one of the greatest films ever made." 2001 changed the face of science-fiction film making and influenced a variety of films that followed, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the Star Wars series, and Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Yet none of these films, however good they are on their own terms, achieve the purity and thoughtfulness of 2001.