Let’s face it, much of what people find entertaining — especially in movies — consists of dumb people doing dumb things.
Stupidity rules, and that can produce comedy, tragedy and everything in between.
“The Martian” is about intelligent people who usually do smart things for the most basic of reasons: survival. It’s definitely not just another “dumb movie.”
Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, a NASA astronaut who’s part of a manned mission to Mars. The crew is forced to evacuate to avoid a storm. In the process, Damon’s character is lost and presumed dead.
He finds himself alone on Mars. He can’t contact NASA or his crew mates. Watney knows that it will probably be four years before the next mission to Mars arrives.
“At some point, everything’s gonna go south on you and you’re going to say, ‘This is it. This is how I end.’ Now you can either accept that, or you can get to work,” Watney says. “That’’s all it is. You just begin. You do the math. You solve one problem, and you solve the next one, and then the next. And if you solve enough problems, you get to come home.”
That’s the movie’s plot and theme: Solving problems. Adapting and overcoming.
Fortunately for Watney, he’s a very intelligent guy whose knowledge and ingenuity extend far beyond his specialty of botany. He, naturally, shows occasional flashes of despair over his seemingly impossible predicament. If ever there was a human being with a right to be depressed, it’s Watney.
But he refuses to be emotionally crushed by disaster and keeps looking for a way to come home.
What he and others do to make that happen makes them heroes in my book.
The movie’s NASA is filled with people such as Watney, smart and committed to the mission of manned exploration of space. Sure, a couple of them are cold-blooded at times when considering Watney’s fate. But all of them are willing to take responsibility and, when necessary, take risks.
“The Martian” also delivers some other timely messages, such as the need for international cooperation, on Earth and in space, and the fact that disco music is tolerable in small doses. Very small doses.
The movie is the best cinematic advertisement for NASA and manned space travel in decades.
Andy Weir, who wrote the novel on which the film is based, tried to make his book as scientifically accurate as possible. After its publication, NASA invited Weir to tour the Johnson Space Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When director Ridley Scott and producer Mark Huffam began production of “The Martian,” they contacted NASA.
Realizing the potential publicity bonanza for the space agency, NASA personnel worked closely with filmmakers on getting the science and technology correct. The result is what one NASA official called “reasonably realistic.”
There are a few technical errors and unlikely events in the movie. But remember, folks, it’s a science-fiction movie.
“The Martian” is a great movie, period. That’s no surprise, considering Scott’s track record as a director in a career stretching back nearly 40 years. His films include “Alien,” “Blade Runner,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Gladiator,” Black Hawk Down” and “American Gangster.”
The movie also has an excellent cast, which includes Damon, Jessica Chastain (who was in “The Help”), Kristen Wiig and Jeff Daniels.
The Los Angeles Times said NASA and the scientific community saw “The Martian” as a way to publicize “the risks and rewards” of a human mission to Mars. The New York Times called the film “a nice plug for NASA.”
A nice plug indeed as the movie has earned nearly $500 million at the box office since it was released in early October. Mark Watney is the most popular astronaut since Neil Armstrong.
Once upon a time, the nation seemed to hang on every happening in the space program. Those were the days of the Cold War space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The drama of the race to the moon inspired many young people to seek careers in engineering and other scientific fields.
The romance of the space program was so powerful that people bought Tang and Space Food Sticks because that’s what the astronauts drank and ate on their space flights. Ugh.
NASA has largely gotten out of the manned space business in recent years. The planetary rovers and interplanetary probes are probably more efficient ways to explore the solar system, but they can’t match the drama and public interest a manned trip to Mars would produce.
“The Martian” is a movie that should be shown to high school students. Perhaps its positive message and role models will inspire a new generation of Americans to return to space.
Even if it means risking more disco music and Tang.
• Contact Charles Corder at 581-7241 or ccorder@gwcommonwealth.com.
