Movie Review: Aniara (Swedish)
Sometimes there is a lot of spectacle, but little of it catches fire. And then there are times when there is little of the former, yet you can't help watch it in awe. The harrowing sci-fi parable Aniara belongs to the second category.
Based on a 1956 epic poem by Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson, director duo Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja craft an unsettling, often bleak, take on the future — a time when life on earth no longer exists, a time when everyone is deserting the scorched planet that's been rendered uninhabitable by a series of cataclysmic events.
A massive luxury spaceship is poised to take the wealthiest survivors to a colony on Mars in a voyage that's expected to last just about three weeks. But when the cruise ship is hit by space debris and is knocked off course, panic and pandemonium rears its ugly head as the travellers come to grips with the realisation that their short sojourn may in fact take several years, and worse, they may be eternally doomed to drift in the vast emptiness of space.
What, thus, starts as a muted, otherworldly drama about escaping one disaster turns increasingly grim, with no hope for survival, and manifesting as a perverse descent to chaos, leading to the rise of ritualistic orgies and suicide cults. On board is a virtual reality A.I. therapy room called MIMA that taps into people's memories on Earth in order to create an immersive out-of-body experience tailored to each individual.
No one is interested in it at first, but the accidental collision sends passengers scuttling in its direction. And like every resource on Earth, it's plundered to the point of burnout. A haunting allegory dwelling on humanity's existential angst, Aniara is a compelling watch about realising too late that there is no turning back.
A massive luxury spaceship is poised to take the wealthiest survivors to a colony on Mars in a voyage that's expected to last just about three weeks. But when the cruise ship is hit by space debris and is knocked off course, panic and pandemonium rears its ugly head as the travellers come to grips with the realisation that their short sojourn may in fact take several years, and worse, they may be eternally doomed to drift in the vast emptiness of space.
What, thus, starts as a muted, otherworldly drama about escaping one disaster turns increasingly grim, with no hope for survival, and manifesting as a perverse descent to chaos, leading to the rise of ritualistic orgies and suicide cults. On board is a virtual reality A.I. therapy room called MIMA that taps into people's memories on Earth in order to create an immersive out-of-body experience tailored to each individual.
No one is interested in it at first, but the accidental collision sends passengers scuttling in its direction. And like every resource on Earth, it's plundered to the point of burnout. A haunting allegory dwelling on humanity's existential angst, Aniara is a compelling watch about realising too late that there is no turning back.
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