By Ruhudeen Ali
Hello Prisoners! Yes, I haven't posted in over a year. I almost forgot I even had this blog, quite honestly. Sadly, my busy schedule and lifestyle changes have made me forget how fun and therapeutic it is to write. Perhaps I was just waiting for the right occasion; in any case, it feels good to be writing again [enter The Martian.] Rarely do I watch media that elicits strong reactions from me, but after watching this film I had some thoughts and emotions to share.
*SPOILER ALERT* : If you did not watch the film or want anything spoiled for you, please do not read this review. You have been warned.
First off, I want to say that I did, in fact, enjoy this film- despite what may seem to appear. The film was riveting in a magical sense and the wonderment of watching a man survive the impossible was both uplifting/inspirational and at the same time great movie-making. Each obstacle Astronaut Mark Watney encountered was challenging and, by every stretch of the imagination, barely "premise-able" yet it was fun to watch humanity gather in unison, quite nobly, over a one-man rescue mission stranded on a desert planet over 50 - 250 million miles away. This film, in a nutshell, is a great feel-good film that celebrates the best in humanity and optimism, with a sprinkle of humor and adventure.
As a film that is viewed as a piece of fiction and story-telling, it hits all the marks.
However, the problem with this film begins when it purports to be based on realism (vis-a-vis science.) When the film wears the face of NASA and as its premise surmises a man can survive alone on an abandoned planet with dwindling resources for an extended period of time, seemingly immune to harsh terrain, climate, mental and physiological mishaps that occur on planet Earth, for example, are not very plausible. At all. Don't get me wrong, there are mishaps, but they are not insurmountable problems that the luckiest man on Mars (and probably Earth) cannot overcome and figure out thanks to his innate genius and superhuman abilities. If he were wearing a cape or if this were an anime, cartoon or even a puppet show I wouldn't be insulted, but its the fact that the film pitches the notion as semi-plausible that it begins to become an affront to our intelligence and, more importantly, our sensitivities as well.
Matt Damon is the happiest, cockiest stranded Martian I have ever seen. The film rarely allows us to see his vulnerabilities where we want to share our sympathies with him. At one point in the film after his makeshift farm goes to hell I was even saying 'thank you!' to myself that something believable finally happens. If the film had an inkling of realism, the mission would have ended in the first five minutes (oh wait, it did) but then it reignited into a fantasy of scientific masturbation and the underlying belief that we can conquer all - no humility nor acceptance of forces beyond our control. Scene after scene, whether on Mars or on Earth, the odds are always in Mark's favor. As much as I wanted to cheer him on, I got lost somewhere between all the jokes and heroic music, all the improbable resources, top minds collaborating, and common humanity displayed in the film, that I forgot I was watching the exact opposite of what really would happen if this were to happen to a man left-behind on Mars. And this is where the film crawled under my skin and touched a sensitive nerve.
The real planet Earth is plagued by unfathomable human tragedies on mass-scales that tragically get marginal interest and attention, if any at all. As humanity gathered in Times Square, Trafalgar Square and other human epicenters for the crew's triumphant return in the film, I could not help but think about the poor Syrian child refugees washing up on shores, borders being closed on millions of people with no where to go. Palestinians - among other nations- facing genocide and systematic terrorism; the rivers and oceans of blood that have been spilled over stupid wars, politics, ignorance, racism, human-trafficking, and every other ill of human society - the real issues worth addressing and people worth rescuing deserve SO MUCH MORE attention and ironically are so much more tangible and solvable than anything shown in this fictitious film. The fact that everybody came together in this film despite impossible odds to save this man, as if he were a savior of humanity, really upset me as to the actual reality of humanity. The film, shows humanity at its absolute best, but when we walk away from the screen we are reminded again of the harsh reality of life and the tragic true nature of humanity. Perhaps ironically, the film makes us (the viewer) the Martian when it comes to the solvable yet ignored problems of Earthlings. Because either I see Martians in real life ignoring Earthlings in the news or Earthlings turning their back on Martians in the media. In either case, I don't see any attempts to save the real and much more deserving Mark Watneys of this world let alone in another world. The only logical conclusion is that humanity is split between the privileged and the under-privileged and these two are alien to each other. In reality, the Mark Watneys of this world- much closer to home- still die and will continue to while nobody cares, and that's the hard truth.
Presentation/Story: 7/10
Characters: 4/10
Setting: 9/10
Music: 5/10
Value: 2/10
Quirks: 9/10 (+1)
THE GOOD: A story we can all "believe-in" to make ourselves feel better. Good story-telling.
THE BAD: Insults our intelligence and sense of realism.
THE UGLY: Awakens a sadness about the other missions Earthlings ignore that are much more pressing than saving Matt Damon...yet again.
Review: 4.7/10
