Be informed

I think my first encounter with the 1951 original was not the film itself, rather the cover of Ringo Starr’s album, Goodnight Vienna (left). I also remember the BBC running a series of evening sci-fi films – the winter Monday night treat starting after the 9 O’Clock news (back in the 1970s). Too late to watch to the end, but I always tried to start them. Another film in that series, I recall, was The Incredible Shrinking Man. Profound, I with hindsight.

Spoiler alert – if you intend to watch either of these films, do so before reading further this review.

Of course I have been watching quite a bit of sci-fi in addition to my reading. The theme of my film watching has been climate change (The Road, for example). In the 2008 remake, Klaatu (the spaceman) comes to Earth to warn of the consequences for humankind of further erosion of the Earth systems. In the original carried a classic cold war message against militarisation and extending it beyond the Earth. It is a time of atomic weapons and nascent space exploration. It is a chilling message delivered firmly by Klaatu as he departs. Gort, his robot, is an example of a robot that is programmed to protect Klaatu’s race from violence and war, They are powerful peace keepers that can effectively vaporise military equipment and personnel.

In the 2008 remake, Gort has a slightly different purpose. Whilst the robot is made of a material that cannot be penetrated by humanity’s most powerful diamond drills, Gort cannot be damaged. Whilst Gort is enclosed, much to the delight of the military personnel trying to eliminate the alien threat, the robot is not disarmed. Indeed it is programmed to convert itself into tiny insects that can pulverise buildings such as a sports stadium. The reason for Gort’s transformation is humanity’s rejection of his request to speak to the United Nations. This is an interesting critique of the institution. My goodness, a humanoid space traveller, that speaks a common human language, is denied access to the only representative global body of nations.

Klaatu’s human ally, just as in the original, is called Helen Benson. In the remake Helen is an astrobiologist called on to facilitate the US State’s understanding – and handling – of the approach of a fast-moving object that looks like it will crash into the Earth with devasting effects. Of course, the craft, such that it is (it is a spherical object of light), slows and lands conveniently in Central Park (the classic flying saucer of the original lands in The National Mall in Washington). The Helens both have a role in allowing Klaatu to understand humanity’s humanity. In the remake Helen pleads with Klaatu to give humanity a chance to change. In the original, Helen tries to help him to safety after her fiancé betrays him in pursuit of fame and riches.

In both films there is a Professor Barnhardt. In both cases Klaatu assists the Barnhardt in solving one of mathematics’ most troubling problems (quaintly on a chalk board). In the original, Klaatu is gets Professor Barnhardt to convene a grand meeting of international scientists to address them. In the remake, Professor Barnhardt, played bizarrely by John Cleese, makes the case for humanity arguing that the species is on a precipice, just like Klaatu’s own planet in an earlier time.

There is also a role for children. Helen Benson from the original, has a precocious son called Bobby. He entertains Klaatu in and around Washington. Klaatu visits the Lincoln memorial and defers to his greatness after reading the inscription. Ultimately, there is wisdom in humanity as well as destructive force. In the remake it is the child who betrays Klaatu, he himself accepting the dominant media narrative that Klaatu must be caught and killed. After Helen (who is his step mother and not his birth mother) is snatched by the military, he and Klaatu have to negotiate a forest in the pouring rain and find a way to get back to New York and the ship. Meantime, Helen convinces the Secretary of Defense, Regina Jackson, who is leading the military response, that she alone can convince Klaatu to stop the flight of the destructive insects. She rendezvous with Klaatu and Jacob and along with a colleague (who dies as the SUV they are driving in unwittingly hits mines that have been laid). The boy is fatally wounded by the insects but is – for want of a better word – resuscitated to rejoin humanity. Klaatu’s own regenerative abilities are quite something (in both movies).

Some concluding thoughts

I started with the remake. Keenau Reeves as Klaatu was a suitable choice (I have always thought he was a bit wooden). That aside, the ecocide message in 2008 was quite something. It predates the Paris Agreement, though the IPCC had published ever-increasingly worrying reports and the Conference of the Parties (CoPs) were well established albeit fractious. The sense that aliens felt the need to save Earth’s flora and fauna from its most destructive product of evolution, humans, is quite something. Because 18 years’ on, it does. We are introduced to the idea that Earth, in cosmic terms, is special indeed. Not unique, but certainly rare. The other planets hosting life cannot allow Earth to go sterile again. This is not really explained, but it is an interesting concept.

The military play a huge role in both films. Actually, the mobilisation scenes are impressive, and I imagine on an Imax screen, doubly so. Though in both cases it illustrates the real impotence of the military when confronted by forces greater then themselves. Especially the forces of peace. The military leaders are depicted negatively with little sense of empathy, diplomacy and understanding. Kill, kill and kill. In the original, the standing still part is a 30-minute global power cut. In the remake, Klaatu leaves Earth with a permanent power cut. An opportunity for humanity to restart (or at least reset). This is a fair ending as, clearly, the film could not end with the destruction of human society. I suppose the weakness here is that humans will reconnect the power grid and carry on where it left off. If the original has any lessons, it is that Klaatu’s message was largely ignored. Our current trajectory will see off civilisation without the intervention of other planetary organic life forms.

Album cover source: By Apple Records/EMI – https://store.ringostarr.com/products/ringo-starr-peace-love-goodnight-vienna-lp?variant=4667045740585, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62166849f

Poster (2008) By The cover art can or could be obtained from Collider.com or 20th Century Fox., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20122070

Poster 1951: By “Copyright 1951 by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.” – Scan via Heritage Auctions., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86859809