2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
a film by Stanley Kubrick

Many times I had tried to watch this film before an all of them I ended up asleep or confused. I wanted to feel the impact I wanted to experience what people feel as master piece as a memorable art work. So I stepped into the Cinematheque to experience this film with the state-of-the-art projection technology in a 70mm copy and the three hour of devotion it deserves. By the intermission I was shocked, I was amazed. By the end of the film nothing made sense but I loved it.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a audiovisual work of art in three chapters. The first one brings us the "Dawn of Man", where a group of hominids face the complications of life as an early-human, the second brings us a scientist leading the investigation of a disturbing finding on the moon and the third one takes us to the spaceship en-route to Jupiter with the human crew and the memorable HAL. The binding thread for these stories is a mysterious monolith, which presence is equally disturbing for the hominids and the humans living in the space, and which bring the science fiction open-to-discussion background of the movie.

Lots of things have been discussed about this movie but for me it was an enjoyable experience because of the emotion it is able to transmit. Caring little about the discussion on extraterrestrial life or technical achievements I allowed my imagination to flow with the Blue Danube watching the spaceships floating in orbit. I enjoyed the uniforms, the furniture and the aesthetics of this imagined future. I was thrilled by the feeling of awe of the scientist on the moon or the desolation of the Jupiter mission crew. I left myself be terrified by the calmed voice of HAL and got lost in the avalanche of images. This movie delivered feelings and ideas and I value that beyond the story that I may guess or discussed.

This is an open movie, it won't send you home with any answers but with many questions instead. It is the wrinkle in the heart that produces this genius combination of images and sound what I took home. I opened my senses and I was filled with emotions and ideas. I could talk about science fiction but that doesn't move me that much.