Recommendation | In Space No One Can Hear You Cry

Conceptually, death and spice integrate well together; both of them engage with the unknown, the unfamiliar. What happens “after” we die? And what is “out there” except us? – these two questions are the two most significant and dividing ones, to which we will probably never have an answer (or at least not a satisfying one). These two concepts confront us with our deepest fears: the fear of being lonely and the fear of dying. Hence, at a time when we must face these fears and feelings on a daily basis (“life itself”), there’s nothing more worthy than to examine works that combine these themes, which are literally and simply, larger than life. Through engaging with these themes, these works managed touch upon our most intimate and personal issues.

Overcoming – “Gravity” (2013, Alfonso Cuarón)

Cuarón’s Oscar-winning film is for the most part a journey of survival in space, deliberately making sure to avoid showing emotional processes and character building even though these are a key element in the film. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock)’s journey back to earth after a chain accident that left her floating alone in space, is accompanied by the personal story of her little daughter’s death. The film does not delve into this plot line but certainly draws a parallel between the survival journey and the holding on to life against all odds and Dr. Stone’s journey to overcome loss and even rebirth. From this point of view, the film presents a very optimistic perspective on life. If at the beginning of the film Dr. Stone had to deal with the infinite universe and loneliness of space, which also exists inside of her after the death of her daughter, by the end of it, it is already clear that she can overcome and deal with everything, even loss.

Image from the movie “Gravity” (Alfonso Cuarón, 2003)

Acceptance – “Arrival” (2016, Denis Villeneuve)

Villeneuve’s film encounters a Doctor (this time of Linguistics) who lost her daughter, and the strange, an appearance of aliens on earth. I will make sure to avoid further plot details of the film, which contains several surprises and some very unexpected plot twists, but even here you can see how the process that Dr. Lewis Banks (played by Amy Adams) is going through with those aliens is compared to dealing with loss. The movie engages deeply with the idea of acceptance and coming to terms with loss and how it is possible, whether one can simply accept the death of a relative or whether it is better to avoid it in the first place in order to not deal with the pain of separation. The film presents a powerful connection between personal dilemmas and existential contemplations, and these two elements interlace so extraordinarily at the end of the film that even though it has a closed ending, it manages to take us out of the spaceship and lands us on earth with many questions and wonderings, which resonated in this writer’s mind for a long time after watching the film.

Image from the movie ”Arrival” (Denis Villeneuve, 2016)

Based on Ted Chang’s book.

I hold it true, whate’er befall;

I feel it when I sorrow most;

‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.

From In Memoriam A.H.H. Lord Alfred Tennyson

 

Letting go – “Solaris” (2002, Steven Soderbergh)

I conclude with the most recommended and complex film in this modest list. “Solaris”, directed by Steven Soderbergh, is the second cinematic adaptation (preceded by Andrei Tarkovsky‘s adaptation from 1972) of the literary classic written by one of the greatest sci-fi writers of the last century, Stanislaw Lem. Just like the rest of the movies on this list, this one is also about a Doctor (of Psychology this time) who is sent to help a scientific expedition investigating the planet “Solaris”. The team is staying at a nearby scientific space station, and the connection with them is lost. The arrival at the expedition’s space station and the planet’s environment, forces the hero to deal with his memories of his dead lover, in the most literal way possible. Solaris discusses many questions around death, but the most interesting one is the film’s question regarding the possibility to let go. Unlike the two other films on this list, Solaris’s answer is not unequivocal, and the movie prefers to use this question to raise additional ponderings about humanity.

תמונה מתוך “סולריס” (סטיבן סודרברג, 2002)

Based on Stanislaw Lam’s book, translated into Hebrew by Dr. Aaron Hauptman, Keter Publishing House, 2003.