2001: A Space Odyssey

 “Just what do you think you’re doing Dave?”

As always, spoilers abound.

I just showed Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey to my kids who lately have been into Star Wars and Marvel films.  I was curious how they would respond since they are growing up nowadays in which kids have shorter attention spans.  2001 was released in 1968 a time in which a film with slow scenes was more accepted (think Lawrence of Arabia, The Sound of Music, West Side Story).  Avengers Endgame is about half an hour longer than 2001 but is also quickly paced so the time is not felt.  2001 begins with a 20 minute sequence with apes to with no dialogue followed by a 10 minute space docking scene.  I’ve seen it twice before and recorded it a couple of years ago but it has sat on my DVR until I felt in the mood to try it out.  I was truly curious to see how the young generation would react to it.

Finally I just put the film on in front of my kids and did not make them stay but just watched and they asked a lot of questions.  Until the fourth sequence were completely transfixed.  They noticed the Strauss theme from Toy Story 2.  They had learned in school that men were descended from apes but this film gave them the opportunity to witness it.  I had forgotten that there was an actual story in The Dawn of Man sequence in that not only do the apes learn about the idea of weapons but they actually use them to take back a territory.

The kids were less impressed by what many call the greatest jump cut in history (the bone to the satellite).  I contend it is powerful, taking a primitive weapon and moving forward to a far more potent one.  Coming after the closing images of Kubrick’s previous film, Dr. Strangelove, it seems to be continuing a theme.

Although the second movement of the film is particularly slow paced the visuals, setting, attention to detail and the classical music by Strauss is both breathtaking and engrossing.  Kubrick was a little ahead of his time as flights to the moon (which had not yet been reached in 1968) on a shuttle were not commonplace in 1999-2000 when this section of the film was set, nor are they in 2020, but it’s fun to imagine.  Also the Pan American shuttle caused me to laugh as it has been out of business since the early 1990s.

Kubrick excels at the little touches like the gravity boots and the flight attendant walking on zero gravity without the contents of her case spilling.  Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, who developed the film together while Clarke wrote the novel, put a lot of thought into the touches of life.  Video calls are relatively similar to now, though technology was not at this point in 1999-2000.  Notably Dr. Floyd, who here is played coldly by William Sylvester.  Floyd is recast and played much less formally by Roy Schieder in the sequel 2010 (which Kubrick was not involved with).  Dr. Floyd, who is leading up the American response to the monolith’s appearance on the moon, is sacrificing his family time to work on this project.  The frostiness with which Floyd bats away the Russian’s questions is a typical Kubrickian touch.  It also shows that while perhaps Russians and Americans will be more civil to each other in the “future” the old tensions will remain.

The moment in which they find the monolith is powerful as the Americans approach it slowly in a very different setting than the apes.  When the screeching it is shocking to the astronauts and the audience and sets up the next step as the Discovery goes to search out the source of the signal near Jupiter. 

The monolith itself represents the aliens’ investment in humanity.  I have not read the book which I have heard spells out the ideas but my interpretation is the aliens give apes the monolith which teaches them about weapons.  Then at the next step they put a monolith on the moon to have them further develop the technology to go out further toward Jupiter where they then find the last monolith where man is to learn that these aliens have been guiding humanity all along.  Perhaps the Star Child at the end of the film is to be a menace to Earth but I did not quite read it that way.

The third movement in the film, in which the Discovery One travels toward Jupiter was both my and the kids favorite sequence.  Kubrick spends a lot of time showing us the ship, life on it and the process of going outside.  Spacewalking was a new concept in 1968 and while again Kubrick takes his time with it, the atmosphere is so compelling I found it engrossing. 

While the two humans in it do not have a lot of personality, a film is ultimately most successful when it has a memorable character and HAL 9000 has a left a huge imprint in the culture.  We learn next to nothing of Dave and Frank, but the exposition provided by the news report fills us in on HAL’s history and programming.  HAL displays a lot of personality, particularly when he becomes defensive and paranoid, and thus dangerous, after making a mistake. 

Kubrick has a lot of fun with HAL, who is presented with a lot of fanfare as being a computer with human emotions programmed in. The one note about HAL that I would question is HAL’s curiosity.  I do not see how a computer would be curious unless it was in the context of understanding the humans he was working with in the context of protecting his mission.  Douglas Rain’s voice was a clear influence on the more benevolent KITT from Knight Rider which I was watching weekly when I first saw this film.

When HAL kills Frank, as a result of only the possibility of being disconnected, Kubrick opts to only show us the pod coming toward camera in a menacing fashion but not the actual act.  This sets the stage for the most memorable moment: the showdown between Dave and HAL.  Dave unfortunately is forced to let his friend go into space so he can get into the ship.  Kubrick accurately cuts the sound and we are forced to imagine the scream Dave is suppressing when he is thrown into the airlock.  Dave’s cold slow revenge on HAL is not quite the catharsis the audience expects as it is more of a lobotomy which HAL’s functions gradually disappear.  Ironically as soon as HAL is disconnected a video message appears which informs the astronauts of the truth of their mission, which is what HAL was supposedly trying to protect.

The fourth sequence is the most confusing.  After all this setup Kubrick needed a big ending as humanity encounters a version of the aliens.  Dave goes into a pod to investigate another monolith outside Jupiter and ends up in a vortex which is presented as a lengthy abstract sequence that transports Dave to an unknown dimension in which he arrives, about twenty years older, then in a nearly colorless neoclassical boardroom in which the rest of his life passes in moments and then is reborn into a fetus which hovers above Earth as the music swells one last time.

The kids’ attention waned during this section as mine did when I first saw it and the ending is a little unsatisfying, even with the Strauss theme.  After such a long journey for Dave to only encounter himself and have no way to relate it to the people who funded the mission feels like a loose thread.  It might have helped if Dave had seen something else.  

The moment when the 80ish version of Dave is emotionlessly eating dinner is perhaps the most “Kubrickian” moment in the film.  It’s both intriguing and frustratingly deliberate as in the audience we just want to know what is happening but Kubrick refuses us easy answers.  Here’s a question I have.  Does Dave age as a result of his journey in the vortex, which would appear to be the case since he looks older while still in the spacesuit, or does the aging start as soon as he steps out of the pod?

A couple of additional thoughts:

·       In another film Floyd would have been with the astronauts on the Discovery One but fittingly he has another job and so the film has different protagonists for three of the four movements.  This might work against audience involvement but feels authentic. 

·       It is impressive both how inspirational the film was and how well it still holds up today. 

·       We are now 19 years past 2001 and are unlikely to send humans into deep space even though it could be done. 

Kubrick made many memorable pictures but I think 2001 is the one that cemented his reputation as a visionary filmmaker.  Someday I would like to see this on the big screen.  For its strengths I would love to give 2001 a top rating but the final sequence is a little too opaque and I do not savor the way it is presented.  Therefore 2001 is a ****.