GRAVITY

There’s a tense scene in GRAVITY that causes Sandra Bullock to cry. With her character sitting in the zero-gravity environment of space, her tears do not stream down her face, but instead float out towards the camera. As the tear drifts closer and closer to the camera, we are able to see Bullock’s image reflected in her own tear – literally encapsulated in her own sadness.

It’s a lovely visual metaphor for how lost her character feels…and when a character feels this lost, can we really blame her for not wanting to go home?

GRAVITY is the story of a space mission gone spectacularly wrong. Sent into space to update the hardware on The Hubble Telescope, astronauts Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) suddenly find themselves in harm’s way. A Russian satellite has been shot out of the sky, and its destruction has caused a domino effect of debris.

The debris is now orbiting the globe at a breakneck speed, slamming into all sorts of things in its path – including the mission Kowalski and Stone are trying to carry out.

When the storm of shrapnel smacks into Kowalski and Stone, it not only destroys almost all of their technology, but it also severs their communication back to NASA and sends Stone spinning out into deep space.

In the middle of GRAVITY is an interesting paradox. When Kowalski retrieves Stone from her lengthy drift, she points out that she has precious little oxygen left. This would be a problem at the best of times, but considering the lengthy trip the two have to make back to ISS, this is dire straits. However, while Kowalski advises Stone to conserve her oxygen, he also keeps talking to her – specifically asking her questions that keep her talking, and keep her using precious air.

The paradox is that in order to save her, Kowalski has to put Stone at further risk. Stone, having just survived a high degree of trauma, runs a high risk of going into shock…and that won’t do either of them any good. Kowalski knows this, and keeps her talking – which keeps her distracted and keeps her alive.

That sort of struggle is at the core of GRAVITY, and a big part of what makes it such an amazing experience. It’s the struggle to find a reserve of resources when everything seems to be depleted. Whether it’s oxygen, fuel, or even the sheer will to carry on, Stone continually finds herself in situations that virtually scream at her to quit. When she pauses and weighs all the factors, the temptation rises to give up (as it would for many of us). The trick is to remain both focused and slightly distracted, and dig down for that extra bit of resolve.

On its own, this sort of story would be engaging enough, but watching Alfonso Cuarón paint it on such a massive canvas makes GRAVITY something truly special. The stage is set right from the start, as we open on a shot of the earth. As the shot holds, we begin to hear the faintest squelch of radio static, and catch a glimpse of a tiny glimmer in the corner of the screen. In this moment, Cuarón has made it abundantly clear; outer space is a vaster than anything we could possibly imagine, and in this vastness, our heroes might as well be grains of sand.

Not only does Cuarón use that huge canvas to his advantage, but he and his team go one step further by employing some of the most amazing visual trickery one is likely to see this year. With the help of some glorious digital tricks, Cuarón lets single shots turn into entire scenes. His camera swoops, spins, and drifts through long, seemingly unbroken takes – perhaps most impressively during a 17-minute shot that opens the film.

This visual trickery not only allows the audience to feel the beauty and fluditiy that comes with weightlessness, but it also underscores the danger that Stone will soon find herself in. The camera floats and swoops because of that absence of gravity. Thing is, the absence of gravity is a pretty scary thing – especially when there’s no way of moving through it unaided. It’s a physical property that we take so very much for granted, but whose absence is truly terrifying.

When you put these details together – Stone’s struggle to survive and the technique Cuarón uses to capture the struggle – you get something incredible. The film alternately makes the audience feel deep pathos for Stone, and high tension for the situations she finds herself in. It’s a role that requires Bullock to do a lot of heavy lifting; a challenge that she never shies away from for an instant.

Midway through the film, we hear Kowalski express how much he understands Stone’s desire to quit. He sees the peacefulness and control that comes with just lying down and accepting ones fate. It’s a situation that many of us earth find ourselves in time and again – fighting against odds that seem highly stacked against us.

In these moments of deep gravity, something can be said for taking control of our fate, and ending things on our own terms. But before we do, we owe it to ourselves to look around – both to the stars in the heavens and the world around us. If we do so and find even one thing worth living for, we owe it to ourselves to try harder, and to fight on.

Matineescore: ★ ★ ★ ★ out of ★ ★ ★ ★

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