Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' turns 50
Jochen Kürten sb
March 21, 2018
To celebrate Stanley Kubrick's cinematic milestone from 1968, the German Film Museum is presenting an exhibition devoted to the masterpiece that explored the themes of artificial intelligence and existentialism.
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Revisiting Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'
The iconic science-fiction film came out in cinemas 50 years ago and remains one of the most influential works in film history to this day.
Image: Imago/United Archives
Philosophical science-fiction
This is one of the films in cinema history that has been written about the most. Kubrick's masterpiece was analyzed by film critics, cultural scientists and philosophers. Fifty years after its premiere, the German Film Museum in Frankfurt is dedicating an exhibition to the film. "Kubrick's 2001. 50 Years A Space Odyssey" showcases many original exhibits from the Stanley Kubrick Archive.
Image: Imago/EntertainmentPictures
Reflections on humanity
What makes us human? This is just one of the many questions director Stanley Kubrick dealt with in his 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." When a computer takes over the control of a spaceship, astronauts appear helpless, despite their protective helmets and spacesuits.
Image: Imago/United Archives
The unforgettable opening sequence
Composed of three major segments, the epic science-fiction drama opens with the prologue "The Dawn of Man," set in an African desert millions of years ago. A tribe of hominids discover a mysterious black monolith. They then start using bones as weapons, accompanied by Richard Strauss' "Thus Spoke Zarathustra."
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Film history's most famous match cut
The sequence is followed by a cut that has become legendary among film experts and fans alike. The bone used by the ape to kill another one is thrown into the air; it switches to a similarly shaped satellite orbiting in space — four million years later.
Image: picture-alliance/Everett Collection
Destination Jupiter
The main segment of the film, entitled "Jupiter Mission," depicts the mission of the spacecraft Discovery One. Two pilots and three scientists in suspended animation are on their way to Jupiter. The ship's computer, HAL, controls the spacecraft.
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A classified mission
The astronauts do not know much about the goals of their journey. HAL is the only one who's been informed of the mission's true objectives. They are headed to Jupiter, where the enigmatic monolith is based. It is believed to a be tool created by aliens.
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Spectacular scenery
The main segment of "2001: A Space Odyssey" showcased visuals unlike anything moviegoers had seen in 1968, and they would rarely be surpassed in later works. The outer space scenes were directed to appear extremely realistic; Kubrick worked with NASA and other companies to achieve this.
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Humans and computer
The two pilots, portrayed by Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea, fatally confront the supercomputer HAL, which turns out to be the actual captain on board. The astronauts' every movement and conversation is followed by the computer. The power of artificial intelligence was a central and pioneering theme in "2001."
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives
Breathtaking images
"I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic content," Kubrick once said in a Playboy magazine interview. His aesthetic concept attracted viewers and critics alike.
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A visual trip
In the third segment of the film, "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite," Kubrick ignited a psychedelic firework of images that some people in 1968 interpreted as an acid trip. The final scene is set in a mysterious white room, where death and birth meet — a symbol for the eternal cycle of life.
Image: picture-alliance/Everett Collection
The magician: Stanley Kubrick
The filmmaker born in New York directed many of his most famous films in the UK. When his pioneering epic "2001: A Space Odyssey" came out in 1968, Kubrick was 40 years old. This masterpiece and many more ground-breaking works make him one of the most influential directors in cinematic history.
Image: picture-alliance / Mary Evans Picture Library
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"The most dazzling visual happenings in the history of the motion picture," wrote Time magazine in April 1968 after the groundbreaking "2001: A Space Odyssey" premiered.
Even before the first man landed on the moon, the film provided stunning, realistic-looking images of outer space using sophisticated new special effects, the experience heightened by a classical soundtrack that included Johann Strauss's "The Blue Danube."
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its release, the German Film Museum in Frankfurt am Main will present an exhibition that showcases Kubrick's cult film with numerous original exhibits from international collections, and from the Stanley Kubrick Archive of the University of the Arts London.
Curator Hans-Peter Reichmann spoke to DW about the "2001" homage.
DW: What is your own personal relationship to Kubrick's film "2001"?
Hans-Peter Reichmann: I can't say exactly when I saw it for the first time. Certainly already in the 1970s. The film was shown in a small provincial cinema and we as teens were extremely impressed. Curiously, mainly due to the music. It was completely different listening to classical music in a science fiction movie.
How did you approach the exhibition? What was your concept?
Of course, one had to think of the exhibition space first. The design of the film, with all its curves and shapes, and the use of dominant white and red colors, inspired us to design the exhibition room in the same way. The idea was to also create and design a so-called "inner space," but of course also an "outer space." In the exhibition, you go from this inner to an outer space. That's what happens in the film as well. The spatial concept and the overall exhibition design were created like the film.
At the beginning of the exhibition, we also have a compilation of historical films that Kubrick has evidently seen, beginning with Fritz Lang's "The Woman in the Moon." But there are also these Hollywood B movies from the 1950s and 60s.
How would you classify the film from today's perspective, 50 years after its premiere?
It is unique in film history. The fascination of Kubrick's work and this film is, of course, that he has had an incredibly intensive confrontation with the sciences, and also with the design of the time. He then implemented these ideas through very simple means — and there were then no computer-generated tricks. He did it with great meticulousness and passion. And he got advice from professionals who had a lot of experience with NASA.
Who gave Kubrick advice and how did you incorporate these ideas into the exhibition?
There are statements from a total of 17 scientists. From religious scholars to biologists, they each came up with their concepts back in 1968 about what the earth would look like in 2001. These ideas can be heard as a prologue in the original version of the film. After the scientists were interviewed, they gave statements which go for about 10 minutes over a black background. This can be heard in the exhibition — in the original, and also in German.
Apart from the film's technical and scientific achievements, what does the film tell us from a philosophical perspective that still resonates 50 years later?
You asked me earlier how I saw the movie back then... Certainly with completely different eyes, as I was young. Today, it's one's personal perception and worldview on subjects such as finitude. The question arises: What happens when the biological clock, or whatever you want to call it, comes to an end? If you get involved in the film, you are encouraged to always think about your own position in this galaxy.
The exhibition "Kubrick's 2001. 50 years A Space Odyssey" runs at The German Film Museum (Deutsches Filmmuseum) until September 23, 2018, and will be accompanied by numerous events, discussions and concerts.