‘Gravity’ is one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. Sandra Bullock stars as Ryan Stone, an engineer aboard a U.S. space shuttle that’s orbiting Earth. George Clooney plays Matt Kowalski, the commander and veteran astronaut who seeks to break the all-time “space walk” record. While working on the Hubble Space Telescope and admiring some beautiful views of both Earth and the solar system, chaos ensues as a satellite has been destroyed and debris starts orbiting the Earth at deadly insane speeds. The debris eventually reach the space shuttle killing everyone on board except for Ryan and Kowalski.
Ryan is sent spinning into space at an uncontrollable rate and she’s not sure exactly how to stop it, and the further outward she goes, the more she loses signal contact with mission control and Kowalski. Eventually Kowalski travels out to rescue Ryan using air propulsion with his spacesuit. Ryan is so relieved not only to be rescued, but just to have another person with her because space can be so dark and lonely. This is a major theme of the movie Gravity.
Upon returning to the destroyed shuttle, the rate of speed on approach causes Ryan and Kowalski to separate and become tangled in the space tethers connected to the shuttle. Kowalski’s momentum is pulling both astronauts away from the shuttle and safety. He decides to make the ultimate selfless sacrifice, releasing himself from the tethers to a certain fate of suffocation while he glides aimlessly through space. Ryan demands that she will come and get him but Kowalski reasons that it is impossible and that they would both die if she tried.
Kowalski provides information about what Ryan should do, with the ultimate goal of traveling to a Chinese space module which can return her back to Earth. Through many trials and tribulations, Ryan eventually launches herself inside a space capsule towards Earth. Fearing being burnt alive entering the atmosphere through incredibly hot temperatures, the capsule lands in a lake. Ryan has made it back home against all odds.
The ending is almost a metaphor for the evolution of life. Some speculate that life arrived on Earth through a comet traveling through space. The Capsule represents the comet. She lands in a lake and must swim to land, just like life evolved from the sea and emerged on land. When she hits the shore, she staggers bow-legged and troubles to keep her balance as she has to learn to walk like it’s the first time, all of which symbolize the evolution of mankind. Really magnificent combinations of God, Nature, Life, and Man.
Like many films on space have taught us before, Gravity once again reminds us of how deadly space is as an environment. While the stars, planets, meteors, comets, and all objects in universal space are so beautifully amazing and majestic, the physics of space can be inhospitable and fatal to man. The lack of oxygen means without a device we will surely suffocate. The slightest bump and momentum can send you spiraling indefinitely out of control into space with no one to help you.
Ryan, who in the film is an atheist, still prays for help being in the wonder and magnificence of God’s universe. There is a scene in Gravity where Ryan loses hope inside a capsule with no fuel, and cuts the oxygen off and curls up in the fetal position, a total homage to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and the “starchild” scene. Because in space, at this point we are still all babies with much to learn. In Gravity, as Bullock is in the fetal position she even has a tube in the capsule that resembles the umbilical cord. Really awesome scene that honors the great film 2001.
There is a long scene in 2001 where all you can hear is the astronauts breathing. This not only symbolizes the need for oxygen supplied by machine for man to breath, but also that space is a vacuum with no oxygen or atmosphere and nothing to carry sound. Gravity features scenes where the breathing and man’s dependence on oxygen is emphasized. The film also showcases how oxygen also breathes life to fire, and how fire is deadly in space destroying your housing with zero alternatives to serve as a relocated replacement.
What I always really touch base with in space movies, and what Gravity also does a great job of reminding us of, is that humankind is the biggest blessing that we all comfort from. Space is dark and lonely, especially when you’re alone. Without other humans to live life with, existence just isn’t the same. It feels really depressing and sad to be in space alone.
The greatest moment in Gravity is when Ryan decides to give up and cut the oxygen and get in the fetal position, Clooney’s character Kowalski miraculously arrives beating on the capsule window demanding to be let in. It was a great moment of comfort, and a wonderful feeling of hope. Having just one person with you in space for companionship as human beings provides the comfort and will to live.
Alfonso Cuarón directed the masterpiece that is Gravity. He won an academy award for ‘Best Director’ for the amazing film, which took in a total of seven Oscars. The way Gravity was shot and filmed was groundbreaking. All of the effects of zero-g were captured in the film. Watching the movie made you truly feel like you were in space. The film ultimately reminds us that as great and magnificent as space is, Earth is still our mother. Gravity is a Killer Rob certified Killer Film!
Ryan is sent spinning into space at an uncontrollable rate and she’s not sure exactly how to stop it, and the further outward she goes, the more she loses signal contact with mission control and Kowalski. Eventually Kowalski travels out to rescue Ryan using air propulsion with his spacesuit. Ryan is so relieved not only to be rescued, but just to have another person with her because space can be so dark and lonely. This is a major theme of the movie Gravity.
Upon returning to the destroyed shuttle, the rate of speed on approach causes Ryan and Kowalski to separate and become tangled in the space tethers connected to the shuttle. Kowalski’s momentum is pulling both astronauts away from the shuttle and safety. He decides to make the ultimate selfless sacrifice, releasing himself from the tethers to a certain fate of suffocation while he glides aimlessly through space. Ryan demands that she will come and get him but Kowalski reasons that it is impossible and that they would both die if she tried.
Kowalski provides information about what Ryan should do, with the ultimate goal of traveling to a Chinese space module which can return her back to Earth. Through many trials and tribulations, Ryan eventually launches herself inside a space capsule towards Earth. Fearing being burnt alive entering the atmosphere through incredibly hot temperatures, the capsule lands in a lake. Ryan has made it back home against all odds.
The ending is almost a metaphor for the evolution of life. Some speculate that life arrived on Earth through a comet traveling through space. The Capsule represents the comet. She lands in a lake and must swim to land, just like life evolved from the sea and emerged on land. When she hits the shore, she staggers bow-legged and troubles to keep her balance as she has to learn to walk like it’s the first time, all of which symbolize the evolution of mankind. Really magnificent combinations of God, Nature, Life, and Man.
Like many films on space have taught us before, Gravity once again reminds us of how deadly space is as an environment. While the stars, planets, meteors, comets, and all objects in universal space are so beautifully amazing and majestic, the physics of space can be inhospitable and fatal to man. The lack of oxygen means without a device we will surely suffocate. The slightest bump and momentum can send you spiraling indefinitely out of control into space with no one to help you.
Ryan, who in the film is an atheist, still prays for help being in the wonder and magnificence of God’s universe. There is a scene in Gravity where Ryan loses hope inside a capsule with no fuel, and cuts the oxygen off and curls up in the fetal position, a total homage to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and the “starchild” scene. Because in space, at this point we are still all babies with much to learn. In Gravity, as Bullock is in the fetal position she even has a tube in the capsule that resembles the umbilical cord. Really awesome scene that honors the great film 2001.
There is a long scene in 2001 where all you can hear is the astronauts breathing. This not only symbolizes the need for oxygen supplied by machine for man to breath, but also that space is a vacuum with no oxygen or atmosphere and nothing to carry sound. Gravity features scenes where the breathing and man’s dependence on oxygen is emphasized. The film also showcases how oxygen also breathes life to fire, and how fire is deadly in space destroying your housing with zero alternatives to serve as a relocated replacement.
What I always really touch base with in space movies, and what Gravity also does a great job of reminding us of, is that humankind is the biggest blessing that we all comfort from. Space is dark and lonely, especially when you’re alone. Without other humans to live life with, existence just isn’t the same. It feels really depressing and sad to be in space alone.
The greatest moment in Gravity is when Ryan decides to give up and cut the oxygen and get in the fetal position, Clooney’s character Kowalski miraculously arrives beating on the capsule window demanding to be let in. It was a great moment of comfort, and a wonderful feeling of hope. Having just one person with you in space for companionship as human beings provides the comfort and will to live.
Alfonso Cuarón directed the masterpiece that is Gravity. He won an academy award for ‘Best Director’ for the amazing film, which took in a total of seven Oscars. The way Gravity was shot and filmed was groundbreaking. All of the effects of zero-g were captured in the film. Watching the movie made you truly feel like you were in space. The film ultimately reminds us that as great and magnificent as space is, Earth is still our mother. Gravity is a Killer Rob certified Killer Film!
