2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey is a science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick.
It is inspired by The Sentinel, a short story by the writer and screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke.
The film is a "journey" through different periods of human history, from its most primitive origins to the proliferation of artificial intelligence.
At the time, 2001: A Space Odyssey broke all genre moulds and became a cultural phenomenon.
However, this fascinating film continues to generate conflicting opinions; while for some it is one of the peaks in the history of cinema, others consider it a slow and overrated work. Join us in the following lines to find out why.

Trailer of the film

Summary of the film

The dawn of man

At the dawn of the hominid, all species cohabited peacefully. Then another group of hominids appeared, walking upright, and began to communicate in order to drive them away.

One day, upon awakening, some apes discover a black, rectangular monolith. Touching it brings them to a state of superior intelligence compared to other species.

Gradually the apes discover how to use a bone as a weapon of attack and control. One of the primates throws a bone into the air as a symbol of victory and conquest.

The lunar journey

The bone thrown by the primate causes an ellipsis of more than four million years and gives way to a ship traveling through space in 1999.

Inside the spacecraft travels scientist Heywood Floyd, who has fallen asleep while watching a movie.

The ship then embeds itself in a circular satellite. Inside is a space station called Orbiter Hilton, which has artificial gravity. Where he passes a checkpoint and stays for a few hours before making his trip to the moon. There he has a conversation with Soviet scientists and his daughter via videoconference from Earth.

After this stop, Heywood continues his space journey to the moon with the mission of uncovering the mystery behind a black monolith found there. The images are intercut to the sound of the theme song The Blue Danube.

When they land, Floyd approaches the monolith and touches it, as hominids did in the past. As the sun rises and the monolith receives sunlight, it emits a deafening acoustic signal.

Mission to Jupiter

In the year 2001, a skeleton-shaped spacecraft named Discovery 1 heads towards Jupiter. A total of five crew members are in command of this mission, including David Bowman and Frank Poole.

The spacecraft is equipped with the best technology, a state-of-the-art computer, the HAL 9000, which has eyes and ears, allowing it to communicate with humans.

The crew's goal is to reach Jupiter. But, shortly before reaching their goal the computer asks David if he has no doubts about the mission.

Then HAL 9000 warns of a system failure that prevents communication with Earth. So, David leaves the ship to try to repair the error.

Two crew members, Frank and Bowman plan to disconnect the computer, but it reads their lips and finds out everything. In revenge, HAL 9000 causes the death of some crew members.

Finally, David manages to disconnect HAL and listens to a recording of Dr. Floyd in which he tells him what his real mission is: to investigate the signal received by the TMA-1 monolith in 1999 from Jupiter.

Jupiter and beyond infinity

As the spacecraft is approaching Jupiter a black monolith appears floating in space. David Bowman leaves the ship to investigate it.

The monolith is like a door and through it, the protagonist experiences with his eyes a journey, a visual spectacle, among nebulae and bright stars.

After this, everything returns to normal and David appears in a white room with a checkered floor and green armchairs.

In the meantime, he wanders around the place to investigate it and arrives in a bathroom, where a mirror reveals his wrinkled physical appearance.

Finally, he accidentally drops a glass of wine on the floor. He then appears in an aged appearance on a bed and a monolith emerges. Bowman points his finger at it and suddenly becomes a fetus floating through the universe.

Posted using CineTV