Gravity movie analysis

GRAVITY

Cast:  George Clooney, Sandra Bullock

Director: Alfonso Cuaron

Review by Zulfi (4/5)

Alfonso Cuaron's ‘Gravity’ is a visual delight. There are many shots in the movie where you can just freeze the frame and bedeck your hall with that portrait. There is a shot in the movie when Clooney's character says ‘you just can't beat the view’ referring to the resplendent earth with its static eddies of oceans, well demarcated continents and a nice collage of every natural hue known to man. Like the old adage, what you don't have or what you lose, which you desire the most, ‘Gravity’ has that sense of loss in the Clooney's character. It is a temporary loss, as he knows when the mission is complete, he would be back at home. But how sure are astronauts about going home? Most of them are destined for taking less than half chances. I don't know how much does the advancement of astrophysics and space travel had made them complacent regarding their return, but a lot know that there are more than million reasons why they can't make it back. It is their sheer courage at this acceptance which has made us so advanced in our modern science. Gravity more than the physical beatitude of the universe, explores the concept of detachment from world and our mental explorations of interpersonal relationships, which we take for granted but know the value only after getting distant from them. 

‘Gravity’ like one of the very few films of Hollywood which succeeded with a small cast, has only three characters who appear on screen and a few voiceovers. One of the characters dies at the start when the space shuttle in which they are travelling is hit by a cloud of wreckage from the other space shuttle. And for a change for any space travelling movie, the characters before the accident are outside the shuttle hanging by their umbilical pipes to the mothership while the captain, Kowalski (Clooney) is flying in the space with his MMU. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is the biomedical engineer and is also a rookie as it is her first rodeo. Clooney is in an MMU (manned maneuvering unit) and is on his last mission. This setting itself adds a little psyche to the plot. A rookie and an expert at space travel. When the wreckage occurs, they are scattered away from the shuttle. Stone is disconnected from the spaceship. She faces one of the most dreaded fears of human life, estrangement. She is in the dark, rotating on her own with her meagre oxygen supply, not making heads and tails of her axes. We feel that claustrophobic feeling which transcends from the screen onto us, sharing Stone’s fears. And her radio is off the radar. Cuaron plays this shot for a full two to three minutes making us share stone's despair. When Kowalski’s voice is heard on her phone we hear a collective sigh from the audience. The captain catches hold of her and leads her to the nearest space station while tutoring her practically, which is the best sign of a leader. They share their personal lives. We understand that stone has lost her daughter recently and had accepted the expedition as a way of distraction escaping from the memories of her daughter. Her vision of her future is maligned with bitter facts. She wants to get lost in her work. She probably hopes for death but when it comes knocking, she hangs on for life. They approach the next space station to find it completely boxed in and know that it can't be used to get back home. But it can travel in the orbit for the Chinese space station nearby. And soon we are at the cliff-hanger of 'vertical limit' scene where the cord should be cut as it is too heavy for 2 people. 

Now look what happens. Kowalski sacrifices and he gets lost in the space. We know he would never make it. Yet he helps stone to guide her for her next destination. But more than that, what intrigues the viewer is that the characters got what they didn't envisage for in their lives. Kowalski has an optimistic heart and wants to return to the planet and he had bundle of chances to do the same. But he gives up all of them for saving Stone, who didn't even want to live before the fact became obvious. As a leader, he knows that the crew, which had put its complete faith in him, deserves his full support. He tries to distract her fears by talking of her life, he sacrifices his weight to let her hover back to the Russian shuttle and in a heart wrenching highlight, he even keeps her spirits ebb and educates her how to get to her next destination till he gets lost in space unknown.

But it is more of Stone, and her transformation from the timid and pessimistic scientist to the determined passenger back to her home, which pervades the whole story. Through all her agoraphobic fears and persistent need to be in the gravity of our planet, she recalls her daughter, communicates with a Chinese man in space, imitates a dog’s yowling and encounters an inspiring hallucination. Though the details of the story couldn’t be probable, which could be taken on face value, it wouldn’t hurt to swallow some fiction while she gets into the hurling capsule of Chinese space shuttle as it reverse skyrockets towards earth. The imagery through all this and prior is breathtaking. Emmanuel Lubezki couldn’t be more accurate in portraying in the space as it is and makes it looks divine. The racing capsule along with other parts of the space shuttle causes trailblazing friction against the denser air as it gathers momentum and this depiction couldn’t be more compelling and dramatic. The shower of debris cloud and its destruction of Explorer marks the opening sequence with such an aplomb that Emmanuel Lubezki’s imagery and Steven Price’s background score emerge as the true heroes. The score reflects the tone with its ethereal quality and which easily ebbs and increases depending on the need of the plot and it looks as though it happens as a reflex mechanism.

Probably this is one of the exceptions of a movie which looks good in 3D, but my only complaint it wasn’t released in IMAX theatres in India when I watched it back three years back. This is a movie which is made with a lot of heart never losing the concepts of beautiful universe with harsh realities. However harsh it may, there is a one in million chance that man can win against the forces of cosmos. It is called hope and sometimes it is falling down.