2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick
11 Oct 2021
What a great movie! It’s aged exceptionally well, largely due I think to the extremely clever cinematography and small amount CGI. I was blown away by the variable gravity scenes inside rotating habitats and frequently found myself wondering how they managed to film that. Several scenes would show someone walk up a wall and I would think “well they’re just using wires there but then the person would seamlessly transition to another orientation or another person would enter the scene moving naturally in yet another orientation. I also find it really impressive to consider that this movie was released nearly 10 years before Star Wars.
I gave myself a day or two afterwards to consider the meaning of the movie overall and specifically the ending before reading other peoples opinions. My interpretation is that the Monolith is the symbolic tool used by the aliens to guide and watch humanity from our birth, through our species life and death, and our rebirth as a space faring species. Having also read Homers Odyssey recently, I enjoyed looking for the parallels.