Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Keith R — 03 Jan 2014

I Saw It When It Was In Theaters For The First Time.

I was only 10 at the time. Up until then, my favourite film had been ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS. My father dropped me off at the theater in the local mall -- a first for me and scared me to no end. When I went into the theater, all the seats in the back were already taken and I was forced to sit down front.

There was no overture in the version I saw. The curtains opened to show the new MGM logo and then I was in space. The seat I was in allowed the image to completely fill my vision -- almost like IMAX. I watched the sequence of the Earth rising above the moon and the sun rising above the Earth. The music was moving and stirred my emotions -- I could tell this film was going to be different from anything I had seen before.

Then another title, THE DAWN OF MAN. The sequence was clearly set in our world's remote past -- I knew this as I watched. This was supposed to be a movie about the future of space travel, yet here I was looking at our world when "man" did not even exist. The story of the "man-apes," in spite of its lack of dialogue, grabbed my interest -- remember, I was just a 10 year old boy at the time. I knew there had to be more to the story than what I was seeing. The apes were in a struggle for survival, that was clear. Then came something interesting -- THE MONOLITH! Its appearance among the man-apes and its eerie song just told me something alien was there and clearly influencing them.

I watched the effects it had on them -- to change from mere foragers to meat eaters, clearly a change in the chances for survival. But that I quickly saw lead to the first murder.

Followed by me again being out in space. I knew this was now supposed to be the year 2001. I watched everything that followed with rapt fascination. The Monolith had clearly played a role in the first act -- but what did the event transpiring here have to do with it? I watched the journey of Dr. Heywood Floyd to the moon. Although everybody did talk, it wasn't too helpful. First we learn of a mystery at a place called Clavius. We soon find that Clavius is an American base on the moon. There, the Americans have made a discovery. Later still, we learn that this discovery was something they excavated on the moon. We learn that discovery had been "deliberately buried four million years ago;" this gave me a good clue of what they had discovered.

My deduction was confirmed moments later at Tycho crater -- the Monolith was there. As they examine the block there is suddenly a loud piercing sound. There is no sound on the vacuum on the moon, so it had to be radio.

I was thrilled -- it just got more interesting the further it went.

Then I was confused by the change -- the Jupiter Mission. I watched the events unfolding on the manned ship bound for Jupiter. The routine of the astronauts and the trouble with the "AE-35 Unit." Here the film was getting weird -- it was like watching the first two acts of MOBY-DICK and then cutting into the third act of ROBINSON CRUSOE. When the astronauts are talking in the pod about Hal, Bowman says "I have a strange feeling about him." I wanted to shout at him "IT, you fool! It's just a machine!" What was happening was obvious to me I felt -- a computer can only do what it is programed to do. As the film unfolded showing the machine killing off the crew except for Bowman, I knew the mission must have be sabotaged. But Bowman survived and saw the prerecorded message from Heywood Floyd explaining that the Monolith on the moon had sent a radio signal to Jupiter. This revelation explained everything to me. That was the connection.

Then The film cut to Jupiter. I heard the eerie music of the alien monolith for the third time. I watched another monolith moving in Jupiter orbit and Discovery entering the system. The pod leaving Discovery obviously was going out to investigate the alien object. And the the universe just seemed to come apart. I was clearly seeing things from Bowman's perspective. The journey of unearth beauty was dazzling and (for me) a little frightening.

I sat in my seat mesmerized by what was unfolding on the screen. Then, the most unexpected thing of all -- a hotel room. I knew at least it must have been a conventionalization for Bowman's benefit. Bowman was clearly traumatized by what he had been through -- it really scared me. I watched Bowman live out his life in mere minutes and then.....

And then as he is about to die the monolith appears again.

And Bowman is gone -- in his place a baby. And we see the baby in space above the Earth.

I knew that the aliens were interested in the evolution of our race. Four-million years ago they had landed on a planet inhabited by animals. If they could make man from the animals, what then could they make of man? My emotions were stirred like no film before had ever done.

The film was an experience. It challenged my mind rather than just dump everything in front of me connecting the dots A to B to C, etc. Not until James Cameron's THE ABYSS hit the theaters did any film touch me the way this film did.

To this day, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY has been my most favourtite film of all!