La Planète Sauvage (Fantastic Planet) (1973)
FRANCE --- science fiction

Dir: René Laloux

Many films have juxtaposed a subjugated human race under the heels of some alien (or other creatures) rule to stress some social commentary about slavery, religion, or just simply social class systems in general. We've seen this conceit in a myriad of forms such as Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", Edgar Rice Burrough's "John Carter of Mars" series of books, L. Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth", or "Planet of the Apes". In the film "La Planète Sauvage" (Fantastic Planet) we are shown a similar visionary nightmare in the package of a science fiction tale on these dark aspects of humanity's greatest failings.

Based on the 1957 book "Oms en série" by French science fiction novelist Stefan Wul, the film follows a young human boy called an "Om" (french word "Hommes" that means "man") who is left orphaned after alien children accidentally kill his mother while playing with her. The aliens are called Draags, who are giant red-eyed blue-skinned beings with webbed ears, yet are highly civilized. Immediately after the boy is left alone crying, a Draag dignitary's young daughter, Tiva, finds him and adopts him as her personal pet. She eventually names him Terr. He observes the strange alien landscape, as he grows up confined to a specially created collar complete with a wristband controller belonging to Tiva. Tiva truly treats Terr as a favored pet, and even has him with her during her learning sessions through the use of an encyclopedic computerized headband which trains her by feeding information directly into her mind. When her parents begin to notice that Terr has been using the headband with and without Tiva, they ban her allowing him to be present while she is learning with it. However, as she begins to grow out of adolescence, Terr becomes more dependent on educating himself from the computer headband and ultimately escapes out on his own.

Terr drags the headband with him as he is out in the alien wilderness. He eventually meets up with an Om woman of the "savage" Oms. When Tiva tries to recall Terr through the collar, the woman help him get set free from it. She takes Terr to her tribe located in a tree and they instantly label him as a domesticated Om. When he observes that they too could use the information from the learning headband, some of the tribe of course outright disdain Terr's gift of Draag knowledge. Eventually learning of a "fantastic planet". They force him into a combat ritual, in which he prevails as the victor. The tribal elders allow Terr to join their tribe. Terr observes the Oms living condition and how they have adapted to life in Draag world. He even is introduced to a band of evil Om bandits who live in their own tree and steal of the Om tribe he has befriended.

Later some of the educated Oms uncovers the Draag plan to "de-Omised" their local village based on seeing some graffiti they were able to interpret. Terr takes it upon himself to warn the tribe of Om bandits, but they do not heed his warning, and their leader, an old woman, has him locked away. Soon after, the Draags do strike using gas pellets, killing a high majority of Oms. The old woman frees Terr, as they all narrowly escape with a remnant of the people. One of the Draags witness them escaping and goes after them crushing them like insects. The Oms fight back as they actually take down and kill the Draag. The old woman leads the remnant group out to a safe haven, namely an old rocket depot, and eventually Terr leads the very large tribe on a mission to the fantastic planet. After the death of one of their own, the Draags have another council meeting, and they are not far behind the Oms, as they discover the secret behind just what the fantastic planet is.

Although I certainly wouldn't recommend "Fantastic Planet" to just anyone, it is something interesting to watch. The film is animated in a slightly strange cutout animation style reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's interstitials in "Monty Python". There is also the unavoidable phallic and organic imagery throughout the film of the alien landscape, successfully creating an uneasy surreal atmosphere. Laloux collaborated with famed French artist/ writer Roland Topor for this feature length film. Personally, this film is far overdue for a live-action adaptation with the right director.

Solyaris (Solaris) (1972)

RUSSIA --- science fiction

Dir: Andrei Tarkovsky

Fifty years ago, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to reach earth's orbit. Prior to that, in 1957, the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite, sparking an intercontinental space race. However, the mysteries of space are still veiled by the seemingly endless fabric of the universe. No matter how far we go, we will still have to face the inner depths of the human soul. I believe this is the message of Andrei Tarkovsky's "Solaris". It seemed only fitting to explore this filmmaker's popular sci-fi thesis on the human conscience what can happen when those deepest thoughts and memories manifest themselves.

Based on reknown Polish sci-fi novelist Stanisław Lem's 1961 novel (coincidentally the same year Gagarin took to the stars) of the same name, "Solaris", opens on a shot of running stream of water, with flowing green grass; a very familiar signature Tarkovsky shot. We see research psychologist Kris Kelvin looking on the beauty of nature longingly. We're then introduced to his father and a vistor named Burton who has a young boy in tow. It's clear Burton and his father are former colleagues, and it's revealed Kris is about to take a voyage into outerspace himself. Burton has brought with him footage of some kind of scientific council debriefing, where we see a much younger Burton being questioned about his own voyage to an aquatic planet called Solaris. As Kris and his family watch the investigative proceedings, Burton looks on with disdain. Kris comments that the beareaucracy of the council has not changed. On the footage, the younger Burton describes an alien lifeform took shape from the planet's waters, attempting to become humanoid in appearance. It's then revealed later that his own mission is to check in on the scientists. Kris discusses the politics of space exploration with Burton, basically dengrating it to daydreaming. He tells Burton he will just as soon destroy the oceanic surface of Solaris than to continue fruitless research. Burton insists there is more going on there than they have knowledge of, possibly extraterrestial life. After he leaves in a fit of contempt, he calls Kris on a videophone from his car to warn him of what can happen out there, and that he should not think himself mad. With that, Kris does leave for the toroidal shaped space station orbiting Solaris.

Kris arrives with no welcoming party at all, and is left to seek out the remaining researchers. He gets to Snaut, who is surprised to see him and standoffish. When questioned on the other researchers, Snaut reveals Santorious is a hermit and Gibarian has committed suicide. Snaut tells Kris to return in the morning, but to not let anything he sees bother him. Upon departing Snaut, Kris notices he's not alone, as he sees someone in his quarters, besides the fact that it appears someone else is around on the station. He finds Gibarian's room, where he notices on the door a child's crayon drawing with the backwards notation for the russian word for man. He gets inside and a note is left for him on a screen, from Gibarian. It's a recorded video message with Gibarian telling Kris something similar to Burton's warning, about keeping his sanity. While watching this, Kris hears someone at the door, we instantly get that foreboding clue that all is not right in this space station.

Kris eventually seeks out Santorious (played by director pet Anatoly Solonitsyn), who is secluding himself in his room, even reluctant to talk to Kris. It's also clear he too has someone in his room. When he returns to Gibarian's room to finish watching the message, he sees a girl in the background of his recorded message. This same girl appears in the corridor in a turquoise dress and leads Kris to a freezer room where Gibarian's body is on ice. Exhausted, and probably quite perplexed at what is going on, Kris dozes off to sleep in his quarters. He does, however, awaken to the appearance of his dead wife Hari. We also begin to notice the oceans of Solaris are in movement, possibly over the psychological formations of new beings. She acts as if nothing is unordinary, and Kris quickly devises a plan to get rid of the shape by rocketing her off the station. This however fails.

When she does return, Dr. Snaut gives Kris a little advice about the very corporeal apparitions, and that the oceans of Solaris have the capacity to tap into their memories to create these shapes. His warning, however, is to not become too attached, because "they" can never leave Solaris. Hari however is like attached to Kris, as evidence when he tries to leave her in his chambers alone, she busts through the metal door even cutting herself up to shreds to do so. Of course, she heals almost instantly. Toward the end of the film, the doctors have a sort of meeting  about what to do, involving a brain probe into Kris' mind to expell Hari, but it too fails. It fails because as the doctors begin to notice, she has not only come into being more and more like Hari, but a new creation capable of her own decisions and free will. She too realizes this, and ultimately tries to rid herself of the guilt by drinking liquid oxygen. Interestingly, she is wearing a turquiose dress similar to the girl that lead Kris to Gibarian's body. Expectedly, she becomes resurrected. The ending is very ambiguous as Dr. Kelvin decides to leave and return home. We see him home, but this too is out of place from when we saw it in the beginning of the film, leaving us to believe many interpretations.

Tarkovsky's "Solaris" is one of the great science fiction films of our time. Wrongfully termed "A Russian 2001", the film didn't quite hit international audiences like Kubrick's film. There is no technical innovations or fear of technology, but like all of Tarkovsky's films, is about our human soul. To use the old axiom used by "Buckaroo Banzai", "No matter where go, there you are". The idea of sentient planets was not created solely by Lem. From a 1928 Arthur Conan Doyle story "When the World Screamed" to the recent James Cameron film "Avatar", the idea has never gone out of style. Many ecologists will argue that the Earth, in some manner, is a living being.

For anyone familiar with the cinematic work of Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, it should come as no surprise "Solaris" is a slow-burner. The film almost operates on the level of a futuristic detective film, or having inklings to a mystery that builds and builds with choppy character depth and layered moody early electronic score. "Solaris" is a great poetic essay into the human soul, and that we are never really alone in our own minds. The people we know and love shape our conscious as well over time, and cannot escape our lives. This is not the kind of film you get up in the middle of and nuke some popcorn, it demands your complete and undivided attention.

District 9 (2009)
SOUTH AFRICA --- science fiction

Dir: Neill Blomkamp

Immigration has become a hot button issue in the past decade. Most of it is due to two American incidents. One involving the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center with domestic planes. The other is a ripple effect of the first, being 911, when America turned its attention to the immigration issue of protecting our borders and "W" created the Homeland Security. Course, in my opinion it was just a rug over of the dirt, and didn't really do anything as we've seen in recent events.

In District 9, we get an allegory of sorts through the lens of director Neill Blomkamp. Shot in the style of a documentary entirely in Johannesburg, South Africa, but in actuality more of a mockumentary, we are taken into the world of beaucratic alien sympathizer Wikus Van De Merwe. He is a button-down Multinational United (MNU) (a private military corporation such as they really do have in South Africa) liaison between the extraterrestrial species and humanity. Merwe, however, is not a well-liked man for this reason, though his intentions on the outside appear decent, his job isn't all that great. He rides that thin line of being hated by both sides equally, kinda like a welfare or social worker.

While investigating the alien slums of District 9, he searches an alien home that appears to be hiding something. When nosing around, he then accidentally is infected by an alien serum, which happens to be a secret weapon. Besides instantly spitting up black fluid, over a short period of time, Merwe discovers his body is undergoing an abormal change. The biological weapon begins to transform him into a one of the aliens. After being admitted to the hospital to undergo tests, he is spirited away to a top secret (MNU) compound to undergo further tests. The scientists begin to conduct experiments on Merwe who now has one complete arm turned completely alien. They discover that the aliens' guns cannot be used by anything other than that species dna handling it, and this is confirmed thanks to the involuntary volunteer in Mr. Merwe.

Fearing for his life from both the humans and the aliens, he escapes the (MNU) compound and becomes a fugitive living in the shanty town of District 9. Eventually, he finds the answer to how he was infected when he joins with the creator of the bio-weapon. They come to a deal of sorts, that the alien will be allowed to return to his home planet and find a cure for Merwe and they soon launch a last ditch effort to resist the (MNU) and a crazed band of Nigerian gangsters.

District 9 has its roots in flavor to the videogame HALO. But the similarities end with alien designs as Blomkamp, actually based the film on a short film titled "Alive in Joburg". I think the thing that stands out about the film is, it's not afraid to go to absurd. A lot of scenes gave me flashbacks of "Futurama" jokes, and yet because of its successful blend of CGI and it's tongue-in-cheek yet realistic performances, it somehow doesn't become silly. The digital enhancement of the aliens is done in what Blomkamp describes as "Rotomation" which is a blend of rotoscope and motion capture. The very best part of the film is, it gets its point across. It is a clear parable about the prejudices and civil rights we deal with in our world. Like most great and poignant science fiction it is a social commentary that holds that mirror up to who we are.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

UK /USA --- science fiction

Dir: Stanley Kubrick

This is one of the seminal films of science fiction upon which all sci-fi films we have now are based upon or at the very least been highly influenced by. It began with Metropolis (1927), then (in my opinion) came The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), Star Wars (1977), then Blade Runner (1982), and most recent The Matrix (1999). The 60's brought 2001: A Space Odyssey. Already a decade that started out with swinging campiness, then toward the end was replete with darker desolate times, yet some films concentrated on the survival of hope.

Stanley Kubrick's film begins with the "Dawn of Man", a very Darwin-esque inspired theory of early ape-like man on earth. They live in somewhat harmony with creatures that look like tapirs as they attempt to compete for food and water with these lower form of beasts. Help is soon to come, in the form of a mysterious black monolith that may or may not represent god, or some form of alien intelligence. One thing for certain, the monolith has a clear affect on the minds of early man, as they soon enact Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest; Man - 1 Tapir - 0.

Fast forward to 2001, as Dr. Heywood Floyd is traveling Pan Am to a space shuttle for a covert conference about a mysterious unearthed object on the moon. Here we get the closest glimpses of the changes of mankind, without actually going to earth. We get the future as imagined through the eye of the 60's. Much like Star Trek, they could not foretell certain things like dyes with new colors in clothing and furniture. Also, they could not foretell Pan Am would go out of business or that we would have portable cellphones, however we have yet to master the videophone as of yet.

Dr. Floyd's conference on the secrecy of the object on the moon, is soon revealed to be the very same object that helped "push" the minds of early man. What it is never even nearly explained or hypothesized. We soon fast forwarded 18 months later, on board the Discovery One for the "Jupiter Mission" with astronauts David Bowman, Frank Poole, and the sentient computer intelligence HAL 9000 with three more astronauts in hibernation. They are to also find out what the monolith's message means. It can be believed that HAL 9000 is "pushed" to sabotage the mission, as it "malfunctions", it disconnects the lifesupport for the three hibernating astronauts, strands Frank Poole in the vastness of space, and locks out David Bowman from returning onboard the ship. Bowman, finds a way to break into the ship and dismantles the HAL 9000, even as it pleads for him to not do so. Im my belief, it shows that even the higher form of artificial intelligence could be controlled by whatever the monolith is.

The final sequence, "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite" involves David Bowman as he attempts to enter the stargate, and displays Douglas Trumbull's excellent and revolutionary special effects. This sequence is one of the reasons the film has gone above and beyond excellent in craft. Bowman finally ends up in a victorian yet modern room where he sees versions of himself at different stages of life, ultimately on his death bed and being confronted with the monolith, in which it is assumed he achieves the next and true form of life as the "Starchild"; a fetus-like being encapsuled in a floating transparent bubble.

In my opinion, 2001: A Space Odyssey cannot truly be reviewed, it is just to be seen and to make one make their own assumptions. Kubrick and sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, based the film on his short story "The Sentinel" in which the middle part of the film takes place. I also believe this show cannot truly be appreciated on television or even in a theater as we're used to, but on a giant 70mm screen. 2001 has since come and gone, and the innovations in this film, have somewhat been surpassed, but the optimism of the film has not fallen on blind eyes.