“Sunshine”, on the surface, is about a group of astronauts sent deep into space in order to re-ignite the sun. The sun has died and it’s just a matter of time until all life on earth dies. On their ship they carry an atomic bomb that will be used to make the sun work again. A spaceship has already tried. And failed. But nobody knows what happened to the first ship and its crew.
That’s what “Sunshine” is about… On the surface.
This film is beautiful. Some of the greatest visions I’ve seen are in this film: blinding sun light and rich darkness. If I think about a painting and the painting is of the sun, then I come up with something that visually feels like this movie. It’s violent, dark, white hot, brilliantly lit, deep.
This film, for me, is about those emotions that are too deep to express. We all have these. Words cannot conjure the depth and scope of these feelings. Art can.
And that’s what “Sunshine” is about deep down: coping with primal feelings, coping with larger than life emotions. We all have rage, we all have hatred, we all love deeply and we all have a bottomless well of sadness. But these feelings are not easy to get in touch with. It takes courage. More than courage. A self awareness of the fear that is inside us. The fear that our emotional states can destroy us. Break us.
“Sunshine” deals with these feelings; it shows us that humans are capable of diving down deep into ourselves. But without guidance, without the knowledge that we need help in our inward discoveries, we can succumb to our fears, our anger, our rage.
Do they save the planet? Do they ever find out what happened to the other ship? That’s not really relevant.
I watch this movie to tap into myself, to find my inner burning core and to see where the darkness leads me. What is underneath the blinding light of emotional fire? A Well of sadness, a water so deep I cannot swim to the bottom. There is no bottom. Some would say that to dwell here would lead to madness. That’s why I learned to swim, so that I could come to the surface when needed.
If you let it, Sunshine, in its visual brilliance, can take you to these depths. Witness the climactic scene of the movie. What is on the other side of the ledge? Our characters find out, I believe.
Pink Floyd once asked about the dark side of the moon. They were exploring emotional depth and the boundary between sanity and the insane.
They were looking in the wrong direction.
4 stars
Kro Line Movie Musings 