"2001: A Space Odyssey" review

"2001: A Space Odyssey" is a philosophical science fiction film by a famous director Stanley Kubrick. Film was created based on earlier works of Arthur C. Clarke, author of the book "2001: A Space Odyssey", while the book itself appeared after the film's release based on Clarke’s and Kubrick’s cooperative scenario developments.

"Stanley Kubrick deservedly received his only "Oscar" for this film".(Sergej Kudrjavcev, 2008)

It seems like in creating "2001: A Space Odyssey" Kubrick was more focused on the music than anything else. As Stanley Kubrick said himself, he "wanted the film to be deeply subjective experience, so it would affect the viewer on another, unconscious level, like music".(Baxter, J. 1997) Film actually has a lot of music compositions, in particular, author would like to mention a lot of usage of classical music such as "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss, "The Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss II etc.

According to Taras Sass(2010) “text doesn’t dominate in Kubrick’s film. Stanley Kubrick mostly offered a visual interpretation of it. This approach refers us simultaneously to silent films”.

Main protagonist in "2001: A Space Odyssey"  is Human. Here people are shown as an asset (legacy) of the universe. Throughout the whole film viewers can see an evolution of the human race, from Australopithecus to Superhuman. The ending shows us how somewhere on the edge of the Solar system, a human has reached the peak of his development. It shows us  an era of the new man – Superhuman.

Figure 1.Superhuman looking at Earth(1968)

Another things author wants to mention is an impressive atmosphere of the film. It has stunning scenery of the prehistoric Earth and Moon, and also very interesting design of space ships and stations. During "Discovery" expedition sometimes breathing of astronaut in his spacesuit was the only noise that was used to show the reality of being in space, because most people know – there is no sound in space.

Figure 2. Spaceship to Jupiter(1968)

 Also "2001: A Space Odyssey" has some horror moments in it. Especially the moment of monolith discovery that moment when "prehistoric" and modern people come up to the monolith and study it looks really frightening. And on top that, this moment is accompanied by a very oppressive music composition "Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 Mixed Choirs and Orchestra - György Ligeti, The Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Francis Travis". During this scene you can feel a growing anxiety in you and fear of the unknown.

Figure 3. Human race meets monolith for the second time(1968)

The film "2001: A Space Odyssey" is very unique and not everyone will like it. It is slow and unhurried and seeks to show more music, scenery and other elements, instead of a plot. But this is the distinct traits of Stanley Kubrick’s Cinema.

Bibiliography:

1. Сергей Кудрявцев(2008) Рецензия на фильм " 2001: Космическая Одиссея",  Книга Кинорецензий "3500", Том 1 [In Russian] Review of the film "2001: A Space Odyssey", Book of film reviews "3500", Volume 1. Translated by Anastasija Strelcova

2. Baxter, J.(1997) Stanley Kubrick. Biography. N.Y.

3. Тарас Сасс(2010) Отношение Кубрика со словом [In Russian] Kubrick's relationship with the word. At: http://www.25-k.com/page-id-823.html (Accessed on 24 October 2016) Translated by Anastasija Strelcova

Illustrations:

Figure 1: http://www.deiwos.org/uploads/9/1/4/6/9146068/star_child.jpg

FIgure 2: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7g27GTH-KaM/maxresdefault.jpg

Figure 3: http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/2001/images/e/e3/2001tma1Floyd.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090901031913