‘Gravity’: Massive nature vs the human spirit

MANILA, Philippines – In “Gravity,” director and co-writer Alfonso Cuaron gives us a breathtaking, technically accomplished, incredibly exciting film that anyone who even remotely likes movies will want to watch. From the opening sequences of the team in space working on repairs to the Hubble telescope, we are transported to a totally different world, just right outside of our own. As the camera swings and swoops and floats and we watch George Clooney’s Kowalski spurting about in space we get a sense of wonder from very few things outside of great moviemaking.

Cuaron has shown his chops in staging and a great feel for long shots with earlier films like “Children of Men,” but he exhibits even greater skill here. We get an amazing long establishing shot at the opening, and more sequences like it. The long shot is often deployed here to build suspense, as if we could not look away from what was happening. With the levels of disaster and devastation that happen in the film, we look upon these stunning explosions and panic-filled scenes and we are entranced. I wouldn’t advise anyone who has vertigo or gets nausea easily to watch this in 3-D, and I rarely recommend things in IMAX, but if you can shell out the extra hundred bucks it definitely enhances the experience. The eye-popping visuals of the movie benefit from the gigantic screen and I found myself involuntarily dodging debris as if it were really in front of me.

Moving inward

Though this movie has gigantic explosions and a large scale to rival any summer Hollywood blockbuster, the story is small and contained. And this works perfectly for it. We have a satellite mishap that causes storms of shrapnel and debris, damaging everything that is in Earth’s orbit. Kowalski and Sandra Bullock’s Stone are left in space struggling to get back to their space shuttle when the first wave of debris hits. From there the movies focuses on Stone and her struggle to survive.

The setting of the story is space, where no one can hear you, where nothing is meant to live or survive. It is massive and overwhelming, and we get a sense of it even in Stone’s breathing. But the film moves inward, showing us the struggle of a single person against unbelievable odds.

Makes you think this is nothing if not Oscar bait. It’s a film about the indomitable human spirit. It is made all the better by the performances of Bullock and Clooney. Clooney brings a lot of charm in his bits. Bullock is captivating in her performance. Though one might find the internal struggles she is forced to go through a little cliche or schmaltzy, her commitment to the character and her ability to make those struggles feel real elevates the material.

READ: ‘Gravity’ draws stellar reviews, awards buzz

The plot is basically an enactment of Murphy’s Law, as a routine repair becomes a disaster scenario with every single thing, going wrong, blowing up, catching fire, or simply not working properly. In effect, this is disaster movie where you watch only one character deal with the disaster. Where we are regularly watching entire cities leveled, blown up, and swallowed up into the Earth, and these effects extravaganzas desensitizing us from the destruction, “Gravity’s” scope and focus allow us to experience one person’s struggle amidst disaster and the film makes that struggle meaningful.

It is also incredibly exciting. We’ve got ticking clocks winding down madly, from the literal watches counting down to oxygen levels, fuel levels, and these sequences where characters are moving on inertia and have to grab onto anything that they can to stop or change their movement. The film exhibits breathtaking beauty, and at the same time it will make you hold your breath. I found myself not breathing in those sequences when oxygen was running out or something big was happening, and it was all because of how engaging and engrossing it all is.

The film transports us, tells us this amazing story. And I think this is the kind of movie that we watch movies for. It tells us something great about the human spirit. At the same time it gives us thrills and chills that only the film medium can deliver. “Gravity” is definitely one of the films you need to see this year.

Here’s the trailer from the YouTube of Warner Bros. Pictures:

– Rappler.com

Carljoe Javier teaches English and Creative Writing at the UP Department of English and Comparative Literature. He is an enthusiast and scholar of pop culture