Gravity II

We always want to hold on to something; to have the feeling of being accompanied. Never do we really want to let go of the persons or the things we are attached to. It's already in our nature that we tend to weave threads of relationships; connecting souls; giving us the warm feeling of security out of mutual dependence. Ever since we were just ions, swimming sperms and dangling eggs, embryos in the wombs of our mothers have we been attached to the feeling to need and being needed. When the time comes and forces us to be alone and let go of everything we have been attached to, we would frantically struggle to hold on much tighter than before to everything we have known so dearly. But in the end we all have to learn to let go and to be acquainted with the pain of letting go until someday we would eventually realize that this life is nothing but a lone journey (but is it really?).

"Gravity" from Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron has kept me thinking the whole night. Now it has been almost 12 hours since I had finished watched the movie at the cinema. But I am still so much mesmerized by the striking beauty of not just the cinematography, but also of the philosophy of the story arc of the movie. The sole survivor of the chain catastrophes, Ryan Stone, was just a devastated mother, crippled and broken from the sudden death of her little daughter. Ever since the loss, she had been spending her remaining time driving and doing routines that she was used to do. Life was just an empty road she drove on unthinking, unfeeling; she was on the autopilot mode. Everything was stuck in stagnant movements until she was sent to the outer space to repair the Hubble telescope and was hit by orbiting debris of satellites and space stations.

The movie is about tethers, attachments, gravity that bind. On earth, Ryan Stones held on tightly to the memories of her daughter and felt comforted by it. In space, she was tethered to the space station and later to Matt Kowalsky, her veteran astronaut partner, and felt safe. However, the movie taught us how Ryan was compelled to learn to let go. She was propelled away from the space station without any safety line to keep her in place. Away was she rolling and drifting. The space was vast but she felt claustrophobic, because she just had her room inside her spacesuit. Matt came and tethered her to bring her back to hope of getting away from danger, but soon after, he also had to detach himself from her to save her. She wanted to come for him and save him. But he was no more to be found. So, alone she was, still not wanting to let go and saying, "I had you, I had you...."

Ryan Stone had just a brief moment to intertwine with the life of Matt Kowalsky. However, in that brief moment, Matt had touched her soul so deep, that she was still attached to him even after he was gone. Alone, she tried to call earth on blind, but instead Houston, she got a farmer who didn't speak English on short frequency. The farmer brought earth to her space; warmth to her coldness as he rattled and laughed and sang lullabies to his crying baby and hushed his barking dog. Her teardrops drifted away from her eyes. Just when Ryan had lost hope and put out the lights and shut down the power of her shuttle to succumb to the realm of darkness, Matt came to her as an illusion and again helped her to survive. Again the movie proved us how prone we are to gravity that binds us to every aspect of our lives. It doesn't matter how short an encounter might be, that short moment could pry open our hearts and minds to someone or something we then came to love. We need those attachments to remind us of who and what we are; of how precious they are to us. We need those attachments to be able to stand up and fight for our lives; to realize that no matter how small and insignificant we might feel, life is still worth to defend.