![]() ![]() In this sparse, melancholy story, humans use space to preserve the last of Earth’s forests after the plants and wildlife on our planet are destroyed by disaster or negligence. It is also a story about flying a giant bomb into the dying sun to save the world, so there is something here for everyone. It is a story of sacrifice, beauty, spirituality, the love that scientists have for the natural world and the dangers of twisting that love into obsession. Space mining and human cloning are still on the drawing board in real life, but unscrupulous companies cutting costs by exploiting workers? All too chillingly real.Ī rarity among space movies, Sunshine turns its gaze away from the shadowy depths of the empty void towards the fiery monster at the centre of our solar system: our life-giving yet unimaginably powerful star. In the case of Moon, a lone miner wrapping up a lunar tour-of-duty uncovers a plot by his employer to staff the outpost with clones to avoid the cost of shipping replacements from Earth. Many space movies throw in a few extra sci-fi concepts to spice up all the dry orbital mechanics. The story is a pleasant mix of Gravity’s “alone in the wilderness” adventure and Apollo 13’s “everyone rallies to come up with a clever solution to bring home an astronaut” charm, while the reasonably realistic Martian survival techniques portrayed provide a glimpse at how humans might one day build a more intentional home away from Earth. The botanist hero of The Martian – one of several plant-obsessed protagonists on this list, alongside characters in Silent Running and WALL-E – keeps himself alive alone on Mars using potatoes, fertiliser and a positive attitude. ![]() It is the only film on this list that I couldn’t bear to rewatch while writing this piece the edge of my seat couldn’t take it. With one egregious exception, the physics is incredibly realistic, making it a brutal and unforgiving antagonist. No shoulders to stand on, here: it’s a woman-against-nature story where nature is a cold, airless void. Stunningly gorgeous and unbelievably stressful, Gravity shows us a fictional accident in space where our protagonist must manage her own rescue and survival. The script emphasises the dedication and ingenuity of the ground crew as well as the perseverance of the astronauts, and director Ron Howard’s decision to film realistic weightless scenes using an aircraft performing zero-g manoeuvres, rather than 1990s CGI, leaves the movie as visually engrossing today as it was nearly 30 years ago. Speaking of space as a team sport, Apollo 13 dramatises the events of the ill-fated mission to the moon and the extraordinary efforts to bring its three astronauts home safely. But it also demonstrates that space exploration isn’t automatically free of the ills of the society it exists within barriers to participation by marginalised space workers have existed in the space programme since the beginning. The film illustrates space exploration as a team sport, as we see John Glenn ride to space (and return safely to Earth) on the shoulders of engineers, mathematicians and programmers. Based on the excellent (and more true-to-life) non-fiction book by Margot Lee Shetterly, Hidden Figures focuses on the contributions of three brilliant Black women in the early US space programme of the 1960s.
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