Lose Your Breath with Gravity

Juliana Betancourt

Staff Writer

     Director Alfonso Cuarόn, known for directing the third Harry Potter installment, has created another astounding film. Gravity is a sci-fi/drama/thriller all rolled into an experience that leaves the viewer breathless from beginning to end. 

     The film opens up with Dr. Ryan Stone, medical engineer, played by Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) and Matt Kowalski, veteran astronaut, played by George Clooney (Ocean’s Thirteen) servicing the Hubble Space telescope. Within minutes of banter exchanged between Kowalski and Mission Control, appropriately voiced by

Ed Harris (Apollo 13) disaster strikes. Their mission is aborted when they are caught in the orbit of Russian satellite debris hurtling at high speeds.

     Unfortunately, the debris kills all crew members but Stone and Kowalski, who have lost communication with Mission Control. All too soon, they are separated after a bump in the wrong direction sends Stone floating off into space. 

     Eventually they reunite and their new mission becomes making their way to the International Space Station (ISS). Stone becomes frantic with her rapidly depleting oxygen supply.

     Upon reaching the ISS, the two lone astronauts spend an agonizing few minutes bumping along while flailing for anchorage. Disaster finds them again when their tether is broken sending them into another heart-stopping struggle to regain stability.

     The struggle unfortunately ends when they are hanging on to dear life by a loose parachute chord around Stone’s leg, barely keeping them steady. Kowalski makes a selfless decision to unhook himself, allowing Stone to survive.

     Now completely shaken and on her own, Stone boards the ISS. The objective is to use the Soyuz module to hitch a ride to the Chinese Space station, Tiangong, to then take another module to Earth.

     She has yet to deal with tangled parachute cables, a fire, a return of the high-speed debris and her own lack of will to persevere. Whether or not she overcomes these adversities is better off discovered via watching the film.

     Many interesting themes were brought up. A big one was that of adversity and its constant presence throughout the film. The debris makes its rounds more than once, amongst other predicaments that Stone encountered. This could be an allusion to adversity in one’s life.

     Another theme was that of fear. The fears of being alone, forgotten, helpless, in the dark and death can easily shake an individual to their core. Outer space was a very appropriate setting to embody these very basic fears.

     In a brief scene after Stone boards the ISS, she removes her suit, and takes a moment in front of a large porthole window to just float in a fetal position. Her silhouette along with that of a chord-like rope floating behind her was very reminiscent of a fetus in the womb. Perhaps this scene suggested something in regards to rebirth.

     A final theme noted in the film was the role of religion. On board the Soyuz module, the focus was shifted to a card with the image of St. Christopher, a Catholic patron saint of travelers. On board the Tiangong module, a statue of the Buddha was also given a few seconds of focus, maybe implying a metaphor for the combatting of fear with religion.

     Kowalski’s character provides an excellent contrast to that of Stone’s raw depiction of being human and afraid. His assuredness and instruction acts as Stone’s inner voice of reason. The lack of other characters and Kowalski’s early exit allows audience to focus on Stone’s character development throughout this journey.

     Very important aspects of this film were the visuals and music. The images of Earth and lighting from the sun make for very stunning scenery. The technical detail and special effects of the space stations and the debris collisions were also out of this world, no pun intended.

     The music added to the intensity of the film during climactic moments. Whereas the abrupt silence following these musical build-ups created a very realistic ambiance for soundless space.

     The point of view in the movie was also crucial. While Stone is first bumped into open space we hear her muffled and frantic voice. We are then taken into her helmet seeing what she sees, and hearing her ragged breaths; even going as far as seeing the vapor on the glass, giving us perspective with her situation.

     This film is definitely one for the books. The experience that it provides is one that will leave you feeling like your own tank of oxygen.