Review of Moon (2009) by Sabih S — 05 Jan 2019

This movie is a unique offering in the Science fiction genre. Unlike other movies in the same genre, it does not rely solely upon the visuals and action. Rather, it dives deeper into human emotions and values. The anticipation, the loneliness and the insanity one suffer upon knowing the realities are highlighted in this movie.

The Plot: An astronaut, on a 3 years mission to stay on Moon, harvest the Helium 3 and send it back to earth to produce clean energy. Right from the start, you will start to absorb the loneliness he suffers. To accompany him is an AI machine GERTY. You will definitely start to draw parallels between him and the HAL-9000 from 2001 A Space Odyssey. Once the premise is established, you will be introduced to some weird things happening and will soon realize that what you see and believe is not true. The director made great attempts to immerse you in his narrative, yet letting your mind wander in possibilities, only to realize that you might be wrong. For further in-depth review, read the spoilers version.

The acting is amazing. Sam Rockwell gave one of his best performances in years. Kevin Spacey as decent enough for GERTY, the AI.

The visuals were great. The story is gripping. The cinematography worked hard to show the spectacles of the space and shone in few of the shots. A must watch for those who believe that space movies can not just be about aliens and battles.

**Spoilers ahead***.

So, one of the important topics explored by this film is the Identity. You believe that you are unique. You have your own identity. But what if I introduce you two someone who is exactly you, not just appearance, but also all the memories, character and emotions. Then who is the real you?

Sam Bell (Played by Sam Rockwell), met an accident on moon and later rescued by someone who is exactly the same person, Sam Bell. Later we found that the Sam Bells are all clone of the original Sam Bell who died a while back. The AI Gerty knows this. And you will start to think him as yet another HAL-9000, evil AI fiddling with humans. But no. He turned out to be a good AI, there to keep an eye on the clones. He not only revealed the reality to Sam, but also helped him to get back to earth.

This is a nice example of subverting expectations. You are introduced to space and an AI companion and you made an image of the character and expects things to go wrong.

Another really good thing is how casual the reactions of the characters are. Upon realizing that you are a clone, one would go mad. But here, the clones seemed more calm. Maybe they already know about the cloning process and might have heard similar stories of people finding out they are clones. Instead of denying the reality, they start to acknowledge it and move on. This explain how the technologies we fear now, can be a casual thing in the future.

Finally, another thing highlighted in this movie is the cruelty of the Corporations. To forward their cause, they took decisions as sick as making a clone believe he is real and make him work for a reward he can never achieve. They cycle goes on and on. It is satire on the corporations who make false assurances and exploit the people.