Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Jakeb. — 11 Aug 2006

I'm always fascinated by the mixed reviews of this film. There's basically no middle ground. You either love it or hate it. Not surprisingly, most of the works of Stanley Kubrick receive similar treatment.

Such is the price of true artistic genius and I believe the term aptly applies to him. Film is our most modern form of art. It is a learned craft in the same vein as painting or music composition. Yes, I'm saying a film can be on the same level as a Debussy symphony or a Dostoevsky novel, for examples.

The operative word is "can" or "may." Its collaborative nature doesn't exclude it as an art form. When Michaelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he couldn't have done it without carpenters and assistants.

But, it was his vision, and a film can be the spawn of one person's imagination and efforts and that person is the director. A director free from the control of a studio, who involves him or herself in every aspect of the filmmaking process, particularly the script, photography and the editting, is just like a painter or composer.

There are few filmmakers with this level of power, skill and knowledge. Stanley Kubrick was one of the few. And, 2001: A Space Odyssey is truly a work of art. Time, the true measure by which these things are judged, will tell.

When historians of the future analyze the accomplishments of man (of this epoch) from an artistic perspective, this film will be an example of our capabilities, and I'm not sure we could present a better one.