Astronaut Sam Bell is in the last days of his three year contract to live and work on the moon, cultivating resources to send back to Earth. After being on his own for such a long period, and with no one to talk to but a computer, Sam starts to feel the effects of isolation. Things get really interesting when Sam has a near fatal accident, awakens in the infirmary and then realizes he's not as alone on the ship as he thought he was. And when Sam discovers the identity of the new passenger, everything Sam ever believed in is shattered.
I had heard a lot of good things about this movie but I also tried to avoid hearing too much about it. I'm a firm believer in knowing as little as possible about a movie before going into it, especially trailers that can be too revealing. Of course, that tactic backfires sometimes when you realize that if you had just watched the trailer, you'd know you were walking into a giant turd of a film. But, I trusted that this wouldn't be a turd and I was correct! This is another review in which I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anything away. So, I'll just say that this movie, just like Soldier's Girl, had me thinking mucho after the credits rolled.
One of the biggest things that I got from the film is how we can walk around and believe certain things are true when in reality, they might be completely fabricated. It really makes you think about reality or what reality means to you vs. what it means to me. Who knows what's real? I guess it's all about the perception. Schizophrenics can hear voices that aren't there and see monsters that don't exist and we can write them off as being crazy but what if they have tapped into a different dimension of reality that "normal" people aren't privy to? Monsters aren't real but trees are and who's to say that's true? Just because an overwhelming majority of people believe this to be the case doesn't necessarily mean it is if we are all programmed by some larger source to believe it.
Another concept is that of one's will to survive despite devastating odds. How far are you willing to go to save yourself once your destiny is revealed and you realize you have no destiny? What is that burning desire to live that's within us, even when we know we have no future, despite logic and reason? There's just so much that I think can be pulled from the film, many layers of meaning and I love that.
Finally, props go to Sam Rockwell, who plays Sam Bell. You see many sides of him throughout the film and he manages to separate himself into different identities while still being the same person, if that makes any sense. And because he is virtually the only character in the film, the fact that he held my focus the whole time is a good sign of his acting ability. I sympathized with him and rooted for him the entire time. Good actor, good character.
See this film and after you do, please come back and let me know what you thought!
4 out of 5.
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