The Martian: Review

 

One has never seen Mars so close, Matt Damon’s performance as the astronaut Mark Watney gives us a close view of what it would be like to survive on the red planet. The beautiful orange reddish landscapes makes us feel really small against the immensity of the planet. It was quite unexpected that this movie was portrayed as a family movie. Drama and melancholy work perfectly with Mark’s continuous insistence to find ways to live long enough for his crew to come and rescue him. The main theme of this movie is not to defeat an alien in order to save Earth and Mars like it usually happens in most science fiction blockbuster movies. Here the purpose is to show teamwork and human empathy.

Again and again it is repeated the debate between letting Mark die or dare to send Ares III’s crew to rescue him. The motif of rescuing a comrade left behind can be seen in many movies but Matt Damon’s performance remind me of Saving Private Ryan (1998, directed by Steven Spielberg). The question of saving one life while having to risk others makes us think about present day empathy towards others. Do we really feel empathy towards others? Are we willing to risk our lives to save one person knowing that our own death is likely?

This led us to the second theme present throughout the movie, teamwork. No matter what it is necessary to rescue Mark in order to maintain the continuity of space exploration. If the world wants a hero is to motivate themselves to do something that puts their lives in danger; space exploration is the most physical and psychological challenge ever confronted. Now, Mark being the survival hero implies that people want to see a happy ending with him coming back home safe. No one wants to see a person dead because he was unable to find a way out to the problems he encountered. It goes against the idea that people, if they try, can overcome anything and continue living. Moreover, this teamwork can be seen at a local level with Ares III crew and rest of NASA as well as at an international level with the cooperation of CNSA.

In conclusion, The Martian offers us a double message of the individual’s survival in a hostile environment and the need for the entire humanity’s to commit to space exploration. The individual will have to endure physical challenges like the problem of radiation, having to live without gravity for a long time, etc. As the body is in an intimidating environment, the mind also changes and the astronaut will have to deal with having to live isolated with his crew or alone. To stay positive and keep going no matter what it is a trait of human’s stubbornness: Always Mark tried to use everything possible to grow food in order to survive. The second message is the compulsory necessity of all humanity working on space exploration. In the future to perform a decent space exploration program, we need all countries and civilizations to become involved leaving aside differences and conflicts. This ideal is difficult to achieve in the present time due to the ongoing world conflicts. However, this family movie gives us hope that maybe one day people will see what the real priorities are. Working together as a team and with empathy in order to survive is the biggest challenge that we have to accept and face because no one can do it alone.