So it’s a big fucking thrill for me to see that in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, everyone dies. Some die in heroic fashion, some die in acts of extraordinary violence, but all the deaths belong to a collective cause. Even more thrilling was to see characters approach death actively, in advance of the plot’s action. There’s a scene in which the crew hold a symbolic vote for killing off an inoperative member in order to ensure that there is enough oxygen to complete their mission. Cillian Murphy swiftly says, “Kill him.” The viewer never feels that Murphy’s brevity implies a coldness or an absence of compassion; this is just how one should act. As a twist, the crew soon discover that the inoperative member has already slit his wrists and bled to death. Chris Evans remarks, “He took responsibility,” understanding just as well that a consciousness for self sacrifice is as necessary as a consciousness for performing violence on another.
Even if we cannot yet locate a place for the spirit of sacrifice in our contemporary times, it is very positive to see a film that portrays a future in which sacrifice is our only ethical option. Thumbs up!
July 24th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
The only problem is, they don’t die out of nobility or self-sacrifice: they die from an avalanche of stupidity that kicks off when idiot Capa blindly picks “heads” with regard to visiting the Icarus I, picks up speed when moron Kaneda LETS Capa make the call about visiting the Icarus I, goes absolutely ballistic when incompetent Trey bungles their course change, and gets a fork stuck in it when Alex Garland decides that these dimwits aren’t killing themselves quickly enough and throws Michael Myers at them. Nobility comes of doing things right and then facing the fact that you might not succeed; I’m wondering how these daffy fools managed to get as far as they did. Their plight doesn’t ring of self-sacrifice: it’s cheap, contrived drama for drama’s sake. Not one of them HAS to die, and the only thumb is the one up Garland’s backside.
July 25th, 2007 at 3:43 am
Sure, the film’s plot is problematized by human errors. The structure of most Western movies demands that the momentum created by many small obstacles amounts to something. My argument is that if Sunshine were a lesser movie, its characters would have all behaved like Harvey, incapable of taking action in a given situation and desperately hopeful that survivalist solutions still exist (as in the airlock scene). Instead, Alex Garland has Capa, Mace, Searle, Cassie, Kaneda, Corrazon and Trey all understand that they aren’t risking their lives so much as submitting their lives to a definite death. The only uncertainty they have is whether or not they’ll make their payload delivery, not if they’ll make it back home. I think this attitude is demonstrated in every scene, no matter what kind of mistakes and errors it took these characters to get to each scene.
If Alex Garland’s writing is the problem, we should at least acknowledge the timing of Sunshine. In a summer of survivalist movies (even Optimus Prime doesn’t die), it is surprising to see a big summer movie that gives us the exact opposite. There is no gamble on mortality in Sunshine, and this is precisely what is refreshing. We can argue the necessity of certain plot details forever, but the film’s outcome remains the same on every print of celluoid: everyone dies. The spirit of sacrifice is arguably manifested in the plot, but it is inarguably represented in the cultural product itself. That’s pretty rare these days. Perhaps we can only say the same for certain horror films like 28 Weeks Later…
July 30th, 2007 at 6:46 am
Hi Ian!
I’ve been wanting to see this movie for quite a long time since I heard about it a year ago. Now that it’s been released in the States I have a chance.