2001: A Space Odyssey

Since 2001: A Space Odyssey was released the year I was born, I have never had the opportunity to see this groundbreaking movie on the big screen...until now!  It is being re-released in theaters in glorious 70mm film in honor of its 50th anniversary and I had the chance to see it last night.  Millions of years ago in Africa, a group of apes discovers an otherworldly black monolith which seemingly directs them to use the bones of a dead animal as a weapon which gives them an advantage over a rival group of apes.  Millions of years later a group of astronauts discovers this same black monolith on the moon.  It produces a strange frequency which leads them to send an expedition to Jupiter.  During this expedition the ship's computer, HAL 9000, tries to sabotage the mission but eventually the final remaining crewmember, David Bowman (Keir Dullea), reaches Jupiter.  After traveling through strange cosmic phenomena, Bowman finds himself in a Neoclassical bedroom where he lives out the rest of his life.  As he lays dying, he sees the black monolith and is transformed into a fetus which then returns to the Earth.  What is the monolith?  I think that everyone who watches this film will have a different interpretation and I think screenwriters Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke intended it thus.  In my opinion, the monolith represents man's evolutionary journey.  When the apes begin using the bone as a weapon, it gives them a distinct advantage, access to the waterhole, which sets in motion the evolution from ape to man.  Man eventually reaches for the stars and evolves into a spaceman.  A spaceman travels to a higher level of consciousness and evolves into the Star Child which then travels back to Earth to bring about a rebirth (the ending is ambiguous but that is my interpretation).  Seeing this on an IMAX screen with Dolby sound was absolutely incredible because, more than anything, this movie is a visual and auditory experience which has been lacking in my viewings on TV, especially the journey through the Star Gate to Jupiter which made me feel like I was on a weird acid trip.  Whether you love it or hate it no one can deny the influence it has had on later movies, especially in the depiction of space travel, suspended animation, zero gravity, and artificial intelligence.  It is even more amazing when you consider that this movie was released before man reached the moon!  This is definitely one that should be seen on the big screen!

Note:  I cannot hear Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss without thinking of the opening sequence in this movie!  For a really long time I didn't know it was a piece of classical music.  I thought it was just part of the score!