The conventional wisdom on the new Sandra Bullock, George Clooney film Gravity is that it is a rousing, action packed, technically stunning masterpiece of special effects film making, that reminds some people of 2001: A Space Odyssey, while lacking that iconic movie's depth. I made the mistake of reading some reviews and viewing a discussion by a round table of critics on You Tube before seeing the film, that backed up this impression. In truth I was skeptical about Gravity from the first commercial for it on TV, feeling that it could never live up to the hype. Plus, with even it's supporters claiming that it was a bit superficial in the message department, I figured this would be all WOW with nothing else there to support all the special effects, something very typical of contemporary Hollywood. Not to be overly gratuitous in the pun department; Gravity has a lot more gravitas than most of the critics out there want to admit, or maybe have the ability to see. Many mainstream critics function out of a secular humanist world view that either renders them indifferent or hostile to themes involving faith and religion in movies. In the case of Gravity I think we can add a third category; blindness. It is the only way that I can explain how this major theme has gone seemingly unnoticed by the major critics and taste makers.
Briefly; Bullock plays a scientist aboard the space shuttle who learned just enough about being an astronaut to get her on this mission to fix the Hubble Telescope. George Clooney is a hot shot veteran shuttle pilot on his last mission (so you just know something is going to go wrong). This is about the only cliche I can think of in the movie, though. Soon the shuttle and the telescope are bombarded by space debris from a disabled and destroyed satellite, with little warning. Bullock and Clooney are the only survivors of the disaster and have to find their way to a Russian space station in hopes that its escape pod is functioning.
As for similarities to 2001, it's been years since I've seen Stanley Kubrick's 1968 classic, so I'm ill prepared to make a full blown comparison of the two films. But I can't see that the two movies have much in common other than that they take place, for the most part, in outer space, and are both groundbreaking technically in relation to their respective generations. 2001 is a sweeping film, following human evolution from the caveman, questioning the role of technology, the roots of violence in society and what it means to be human. For all it's spectacle, Gravity is a very intimate story about one person's journey from spiritual and emotional death to rebirth. 2001 questions the reality of the transcendent, but leaves you wondering. Gravity affirms that we are not alone, and that there are no atheists in escape pods burning their way through the atmosphere.
What hit me from watching it, and talking with others who have, is how rich the film is in religious symbols, and where some of the more tangible symbols show up, and where they don't. I'd noticed that the Russian station features a small icon of St. Christopher and a Chinese rig contains a Buddha, but it was pointed out to me that no such religious image can be seen among the debris floating from the U.S. wreckage. The most prominent symbol that emerges from the gaping hole in the shuttle's fuselage is a statuette of Marvin the Martian of Bugs Bunny fame. The two cultures that have experienced religious persecution and state sanctioned atheism in the last century still maintains the religious sense, while the one that has religious freedom codified in its constitution seems oblivious, exchanging centuries old touchstones for a trivial piece of pop culture nostalgia.
Gravity could have easily devolved into a "triumph of technology and human know how over adversity" story like Apollo 13, but as Fr. Barron points out in his analysis (which contains spoilers) the movie shows the fragility of technology and the need to be grounded in a deeper reality if true meaning in life is to found. In her darkest hour Bullock's character begins to speak to no one in particular, coming to grips with the fact that her death is near. She expresses a desire to pray but feels lost because no one has ever taught her how. I don't want to give anything away, but she has an unlikely encounter that can be variously interpreted as an apparition, a hallucination caused by a lack of oxygen or some mystical combination of the two. The mysterious visitor, along with assuring her that she'll get home, reminds her of her training, and repeats to her, "you know this," as the protocols are reviewed. I think she knew how to fix the problems that she faced all along, but had given up, essentially committing a form of passive suicide. She was diverted from this course as soon as she was tuned into a reality beyond herself. In coming to an understanding that she isn't alone she is renewed, and in her determination to get home alive begins to speak with purpose to someone in particular who has obviously passed on to another realm.
I could go on about Gravity's religious symbolism and themes, and maybe will in a later post, but for now I want to end off by saying that I very much see Gravity as falling in line with a couple of films that have come out over the last few years. I'm thinking particularly of last year's Life of Pi, 2011's The Tree of Life and 2010's Hereafter: major Hollywood movies that take religion, God and the afterlife seriously. Since the New Hollywood era of the late sixties and 1970's irony and iconoclasm have been the bywords in Hollywood. All things related to tradition and authority were (and still are) fair game for ridicule and rejection, with religion held up for scorn in a particular way. One could understand the movement to a point considering how subject matter and points of view that could be presented in films were so rigidly regulated by the old Production Code. Nonetheless the pendulum has swung so far the other way it's been rare to ever see faith or religious people treated in anything other than negative stereo types. In these four films in particular I see a small trend that I pray grows, of Hollywood once again taking faith and God seriously.
Without a doubt I can say that I have never seen anything quite like Gravity on a movie screen anywhere ever. I held on stubbornly to my snarky skepticism through about the first quarter, but it eventually melted away and I had to simply sit there, nodding my head and say "WOW," to the visual spectacle before me. But this movie is much more than just visual wizardry. The themes may not be as complex as 2001: A Space Odyssey, but they are no less profound. Not only does Spanish director Alfonso Cuarón engage the mind, he touches the heart, something Kubrick was never able to accomplish in any of his films, as truly great as they are. Keep in mind, I knew exactly what was going to happen walking in and I found myself getting choked up then, and still feel affected four days later.
So see Gravity: a film that engages the imagination, the intellect and the heart. A rare feat in any age.
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