By many, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is the best science fiction movie ever made. Perhaps I agree with that statement, it is very complicated to say something as categorical as “the best”, but surely it is one of the most intense and perfect films mankind has ever done. It is a popular mistake that Stanley Kubrick adapted the novel written by his pal Arthur C. Clarke’s novel of the same name, but in fact, it was the two creators who wrote the script together and while Kubrick was embarked in the film production Clarke wrote the novelization. The two had in mind to make the best science fiction movie ever done, “the proverbial good science-fiction movie“.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) has been a main influence to already several generations of filmmakers and movie lovers. Due to its complex narrative (as Arthur C. Clarke stated “if you understand ‘2001‘ completely, we failed. We wanted to raise far more questions than we answered“), the movie became an instant cult film, as intriguing as respected. A movie so much centered in the origin of things, of mankind and the universe, can’t be a box when all the questions are answered. That is one of the magic of the film, to expose one concept, one idea, one succession of images and sounds, and then the audience can choose to believe and understand whatever fits them the better. Because knowing all the answers don’t make us happier, but to create our own ones might.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). And to commemorate such ephemeris, the movie will return to the theaters in a restored 70mm version. So far, only some selected USA theaters are scheduled to screen the classic film being the 18th of May the date of its re-release. Also, the movie will have a very special screening the 12th of May at the Cannes Film Festival, where it will be introduced by director Christopher Nolan. In the words of the popular filmmaker, “one of my earliest memories of cinema is seeing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 70mm, at the Leicester Square Theatre in London with my father. The opportunity to be involved in recreating that experience for a new generation, and of introducing our new unrestored 70mm print of Kubrick’s masterpiece in all its analogue glory at the Cannes Film Festival is an honor and a privilege”.
I also saw 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) for the first time, around 20 years ago when I was a teenager, in a movie theater. I was becoming an avid enthusiast of science fiction, a genre that sadly I didn’t care much in my earlier years of life, so I was quite excited to finally watch that movie that everybody of several generations was calling “a masterpiece”. As a young cinema lover, that was marked to be a highlight. But I could never expect the dose of amazingness that I was about to witness. I left the theater being a different person. My mind wasn’t the same anymore. As I have never seen a movie like that ever again. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) might not be for everybody, but if you are lucky enough it can change your mind forever. It did to me, as it has been doing to many people for already 50 years. And many more to come.
Here, the official re-release trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968):
