![]() But, the crew members find nothing wrong with the antennas upon examination. One day, Hal picks up something wrong with one of the antennas for communication and predicts its failure within 72 hours. Hal, who maintains the ship, oversees the cryogenic hibernation and pretty much everything, has endless capabilities including lip-reading (which, by the way, we learn the hard way). Coming from a family of 9000 series which is, in Hal’s words “foolproof and incapable of error”, Hal is extremely proud and confident about what he does. The computer, commonly called as Hal, who sees everything through his camera eyes, speaks in a calm male voice. More importantly, there’s an artificially intelligent computer HAL 9000 on board that controls most of the functions of the ship. Frank Poole along with three others who are in cryogenic hibernation (to conserve food and air, of course). Cut.Įighteen months later, we are on the Discovery One spaceship on its way to Jupiter with crew members Dr. The monolith that looks identical to the one that the apes found, emits a loud high frequency noise when sunlight strikes on it. Floyd examines the monolith along with his team members. Once he reaches the base, it is revealed that he has come to examine a mysterious monolith found on the moon that was buried four million years ago. Floyd declines to answer while inquired about the purpose of his trip while they seem to believe in rumors of some sort of epidemic at the base. On his way to the base, he meets a few of his friends from the Soviet Union, while at Space Station V, a gorgeous twin-wheeled hub that serves as a transit point from Earth’s orbit to moon and other planets. Heywood Floyd, a scientific specialist for the US government who has been called up for a secret mission to Clavius base, an US research base on the moon. True pioneers! Then, in one of the most celebrated flash-forwards ever in the history of cinema, Kubrick takes us ahead millions of years by jumping from the shot of a bone triumphantly thrown up in the air to that of a satellite (That is not a spaceship although it is widely referred to as one) orbiting the earth in the 21st century. In no time, they even managed to perfect the art of killing one of their own, using their brand new invention. Plenty to eat! Meanwhile, the territorial fights continue to occur among the tribes and they start using bones to fight among themselves. This makes their lives a lot better and prosperous. After the appearance of the monolith, somehow they seem to have been inspired to use bones as tools/weapons. We see a beautiful shot of sunlight reflecting off of the monolith. They curiously and gingerly approach the monolith and examine it. One fine day, a mysterious black monolith appears at a watering hole, the habitat of one of the tribes. At times, they are being attacked by predators as well. The apes live in groups as several different tribes and often there are (nonviolent) conflicts among them over watering holes. They seem to be living off what the predators leave behind. But, they aren’t modern enough to hunt their preys. Apparently, apes are the most evolved species at the time. ![]() This visual poetry begins its journey from millions of years ago. So, here’s an attempt at explaining this gem of a film. But, it is not the brilliance of this legendary film but the themes and philosophical interpretations that’s been discussed the most over the years. It has been discussed in great deal for decades. Owing to the otherworldly quality in direction, nonverbal narrative style (minimal dialogues), stunning cinematography & visual effects and haunting music it is regarded as one of the greatest movies of all time. In terms of the content, making and technical brilliance, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ is undoubtedly way ahead of its time or even our time. I have literally paused the movie several times and wondered things like “ Was this really made in 1968? I mean the moon landing was in 1969!” or “ Good lord! This makes ‘Interstellar’ look like ‘Doodlebug’!” But the grandeur and elegance of it shocks you. ![]() ![]() I knew I was going to watch a Stanley Kubrick epic. ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ was one hell of an exception. Usually when I watch an old classic film from my watchlist, I almost always feel “ Well, that was great, you know, just as expected” because I must have encountered the annoying reaction “OMG! You have never watched it? It’s brilliant!” from cinephiles a million times about that movie (Hypocrisy Alert). There has never been a film that made me feel so small. ![]() It stands tall in all its magnificence and it intimidates you. 2001: A Space Odyssey is the Everest among those Kubrickian mountains. You look up and wonder, how could anyone have climbed that high?” – Martin Scorsese. “Watching a Kubrick film is like gazing up at a mountaintop. ![]()
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