2001: A Space Odyssey

Boldly opening with Richard Strauss’ symphonic poem Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Kubrick’s imposing, enigmatic four-part space opera traces out different evolutionary leaps in human history, all the way from primates to computers. In the year 2001, a mysterious, radiation-emitting black monolith is discovered on the Moon. A spaceship carrying five scientists and the super-computer HAL 9000 on board (a forerunner of artificial intelligence) sets off towards Jupiter in pursuit of the radiation. Kubrick contrasts expressive music with the oppressive silence that reigns in space, from which the heavy breathing, a mechanical whirring and the ‘voice’ of HAL 9000 ring disturbingly forth. (mg)