Gravity Lessons
80 million dollars were spent making this 4.5 starred critically rated movie by Warner Home Video currently still playing in theaters. If you asked me, it would be 5 stars. Spoiler alert: if you have not seen the movie yet, wait to read this blog entry.
Oscar winner Sandra Bullock is in every scene of this movie set entirely in space until the last few minutes. She plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a doctor recently employed by NASA to install her technology on a U.S. satellite and dealing with her first experiences in space. It is also the commander's final mission played by George Clooney. Her character is immediately established as queazy, brilliant and disconnected to people. George is quippy, stabilizing and fast-thinking.
15 minutes into this 91 minute thriller, we experience our lead characters struggling to return to their ship following a rain shower of exploding satellite debris that has destroyed all communication with Houston. Discovering they are the sole survivors of their mission, they embark on a plan to hop over to the international space station just 100 some miles away. A speck on the horizon. Our heroine is losing air and the commander distracts her with questions about her life on Earth. We learn she is a workaholic without any human connections following a freak accident that killed her four-year-old daughter. Since she was driving when she got the news, after long shifts at the hospital, Dr. Stone admits all she does is drive.
The creators of this film keep the audience in suspense with ongoing character trials. As we hold our breath, we watch the noble commander untether himself from our heroine, knowing both of them would not make it unless drag was removed. As he releases the clasp from a feint Dr. Stone, he wisely states, "Let go, Ryan." We watch him begin floating away. There is a close-up of her big brown eyes as she realizes she is now completely alone...and how lost she really is.
His admonition foreshadows the movie's message. Dr. Ryan Stone must learn to let go of her past pain and choose to live. She must overcome impossible obstacles and comb her brain's tactical reservoirs in order to return to earth. This is true for each one of us. We may have had horrible, abusive pasts even created by our disgusting choices at the time. But we can choose to let go and move ahead with a different, healthy life.
Gravity is the movie to see if you are living in fear or trapped by wrong thinking. Before your eyes, you will see a woman come to life. When Ryan is outside the space station she managed to get to, another shower of debris barrages her, battering the ship. When she finally makes it inside, she finds the ship catching fire due the damage and must jettison her pod in order to live... but not knowing what living would be like since it was out of gas.
At one point, she gives up. Nothing was working. No one could hear her. She keeps dialing the radio calling for help and finally hits on someone on his home radio. He doesn't speak English and thinks her name is Mayday. She uselessly rambles about her life and predicament to her foreign friend. She asks him to pray for her, crying "nobody ever taught me how to pray." When she hears his dog and baby crying, she encourages him to keep singing the lullaby and quietly shuts down the lights and her oxygen. She was going to fall asleep for good.
As she is drifting to sleep, she dreams that the Commander somehow reached her pod and encouraged her to try a launching technique to reach yet another station that might help get her home. She snaps awake and successfully completes the risky maneuver that places her just close enough to that station to put the audience back on the edge of their seats. Ryan is now determined to do whatever it takes to live and go home. She tells the Commander to say hi to her daughter and says that either way it was going to turn out, it was going to be a hell of a ride and a story.
More dramatic moments follow and she lands in one of Earth's remote oceans. She struggles to shore and lays in the sand, clutching it - digging her fingers in its moist comfort. She almost kisses it as she struggles to stand and take in the sweet fresh air that had become so precious.
You couldn't find yourself more alone than out in space with no radio contact and limited abilities to operate unfamiliar technology. The setting was a perfect demonstration of a lost life going through the motions having shut people out - only to realize that she is now shut out of all life. Ryan is forced to make the decision not only to let go of the crippling pain, but reach out and live. She grits her teeth and rallies all determination and finally begins to be fully present. Her pod tumbles into Earth's orbit surrounded by flames - our victorious heroine doesn't know if she will burn up or land but is ready either way.
Just like Dr. Ryan Stone, we can grit our teeth and pass the roadblocks in our lives - those hurtful memories or beliefs that have impaired us from living to our fullest. We can press on. We can move on. We can leave behind those old behaviors and thoughts and make the choice not to look back. Kiss the ground and take our first free steps.
If you are like Ryan and no one has ever taught you to pray, please contact me. That was the saddest line in the movie. No wonder she felt so alone. In my mind, that is what she learned to do next.
Oscar winner Sandra Bullock is in every scene of this movie set entirely in space until the last few minutes. She plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a doctor recently employed by NASA to install her technology on a U.S. satellite and dealing with her first experiences in space. It is also the commander's final mission played by George Clooney. Her character is immediately established as queazy, brilliant and disconnected to people. George is quippy, stabilizing and fast-thinking.
15 minutes into this 91 minute thriller, we experience our lead characters struggling to return to their ship following a rain shower of exploding satellite debris that has destroyed all communication with Houston. Discovering they are the sole survivors of their mission, they embark on a plan to hop over to the international space station just 100 some miles away. A speck on the horizon. Our heroine is losing air and the commander distracts her with questions about her life on Earth. We learn she is a workaholic without any human connections following a freak accident that killed her four-year-old daughter. Since she was driving when she got the news, after long shifts at the hospital, Dr. Stone admits all she does is drive.
The creators of this film keep the audience in suspense with ongoing character trials. As we hold our breath, we watch the noble commander untether himself from our heroine, knowing both of them would not make it unless drag was removed. As he releases the clasp from a feint Dr. Stone, he wisely states, "Let go, Ryan." We watch him begin floating away. There is a close-up of her big brown eyes as she realizes she is now completely alone...and how lost she really is.
His admonition foreshadows the movie's message. Dr. Ryan Stone must learn to let go of her past pain and choose to live. She must overcome impossible obstacles and comb her brain's tactical reservoirs in order to return to earth. This is true for each one of us. We may have had horrible, abusive pasts even created by our disgusting choices at the time. But we can choose to let go and move ahead with a different, healthy life.
Gravity is the movie to see if you are living in fear or trapped by wrong thinking. Before your eyes, you will see a woman come to life. When Ryan is outside the space station she managed to get to, another shower of debris barrages her, battering the ship. When she finally makes it inside, she finds the ship catching fire due the damage and must jettison her pod in order to live... but not knowing what living would be like since it was out of gas.
At one point, she gives up. Nothing was working. No one could hear her. She keeps dialing the radio calling for help and finally hits on someone on his home radio. He doesn't speak English and thinks her name is Mayday. She uselessly rambles about her life and predicament to her foreign friend. She asks him to pray for her, crying "nobody ever taught me how to pray." When she hears his dog and baby crying, she encourages him to keep singing the lullaby and quietly shuts down the lights and her oxygen. She was going to fall asleep for good.
As she is drifting to sleep, she dreams that the Commander somehow reached her pod and encouraged her to try a launching technique to reach yet another station that might help get her home. She snaps awake and successfully completes the risky maneuver that places her just close enough to that station to put the audience back on the edge of their seats. Ryan is now determined to do whatever it takes to live and go home. She tells the Commander to say hi to her daughter and says that either way it was going to turn out, it was going to be a hell of a ride and a story.
More dramatic moments follow and she lands in one of Earth's remote oceans. She struggles to shore and lays in the sand, clutching it - digging her fingers in its moist comfort. She almost kisses it as she struggles to stand and take in the sweet fresh air that had become so precious.
You couldn't find yourself more alone than out in space with no radio contact and limited abilities to operate unfamiliar technology. The setting was a perfect demonstration of a lost life going through the motions having shut people out - only to realize that she is now shut out of all life. Ryan is forced to make the decision not only to let go of the crippling pain, but reach out and live. She grits her teeth and rallies all determination and finally begins to be fully present. Her pod tumbles into Earth's orbit surrounded by flames - our victorious heroine doesn't know if she will burn up or land but is ready either way.
Just like Dr. Ryan Stone, we can grit our teeth and pass the roadblocks in our lives - those hurtful memories or beliefs that have impaired us from living to our fullest. We can press on. We can move on. We can leave behind those old behaviors and thoughts and make the choice not to look back. Kiss the ground and take our first free steps.
If you are like Ryan and no one has ever taught you to pray, please contact me. That was the saddest line in the movie. No wonder she felt so alone. In my mind, that is what she learned to do next.
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