In ‘Gravity,’ finding spirituality in space

[cbayer]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/10/07/in-gravity-finding-spirituality-in-space/

BY PAUL ASAY
October 7 at 11:59 am


Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures / AP


Director Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity is being hailed as perhaps the best space-centric flick since 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story is taut and relentless. The special effects are amazing. It’s both intimate and epic, and I imagine we’ll still be talking about this flick come Academy Awards season.

But in the midst of this straightforward story of two people trying to survive in the not-so-friendly confines of space, there’s a resonant, deeply spiritual message at play.

Space newbie Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is in a pretty dark place, spiritually speaking—and the view from space isn’t doing much to cheer her up. She’s still grieving the loss of her young daughter—killed in a freakish accident—and is half dead herself. When her co-astronaut Matt (George Clooney) asks her what she likes most about being up in space, she says the silence. When he asks what she did during her off-hours back on earth, she says she just drove. She wasn’t living, really. She was existing. Even though she was still drawing breath, a good part of her was already dead.

And it’s interesting that, when it looks like she could actually die, she seems at times nearly resigned to her fate. Not indifferent, really, but she carries with her an air of fatalism. In perhaps her darkest moment, she actually turns off the oxygen keeping her alive and prepares to give herself to the void. And as you might expect, her thoughts turn toward her daughter, and to faith—even though Ryan’s never been religious.

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[Jim__]

1. How does she get to be an astronaut?

I haven't seen the movie and don't know the story. But, if she's half-dead herself, I can't see her qualifying as an astronaut. If she already was an astronaut before the death of her daughter, it sounds like that death was traumatic enough to make them re-evaluate her fitness.

That being said, it sounds like an interesting story.

[cbayer]

2. Haven't seen it yet.

Reviews are really positive, but they all say it must be seen on the biggest screen possible.

[Cheap_Trick]

3. Saw it in IMAX 3D

Closest thing to being in space. Really immersive experience.

[cbayer]

4. That's the way I want to see it.

It sounds amazing.

I heard Sandra Bullock interviewed about how they filmed her and it sounded so intense.

[Cheap_Trick]

5. Well worth the extra $ nt