2001: A Space Odyssey
Caution. Age: 13+. A Catholic review of this movie for parents.
Our review
Long ago, a strange black stone appears and early ape-men learn to use tools. Millions of years later, astronauts find another stone on the moon and fly toward Jupiter to learn where it came from. Their ship's computer, HAL, turns against them. The movie is very slow and quiet, with a strange ending and few words, so it is for teens and grown-ups who are ready to talk about what it means. This is a towering work of film art, and the Vatican listed it in 1995 under Art, not under Religion or Values. That listing honors the craft. It does not bless the ideas. The film tells a creation story with no Creator: unseen aliens hand ape-men their minds, and at the end they remake a man into something higher. The Church has no quarrel with the science of human origins, but she teaches that God made man for himself and creates each soul directly. Kubrick puts aliens where God belongs. There is real awe here and no mockery of the faith, so the score is mildly negative, and the verdict is Caution.
For parents
Teens and up per the USCCB classification, A-II. Do not trust the G rating. Ape-men beat one another to death, a computer kills a sleeping crew, and the last half hour is strange and unsettling. Young children will be bored or frightened. For teens, the work is in the ideas. Start with what the Church does not object to. The Catechism says scientific studies of the origins of the world and of man have 'splendidly enriched our knowledge' (CCC 283). Evolution of the body is a question for science. Then name what the film gets wrong. It says outside beings gave us our minds and will give us our future. The Church teaches that man is the only creature on earth God willed for himself (CCC 356), and that 'every spiritual soul is created immediately by God' and is immortal (CCC 366). No alien, no tool and no machine makes a person. The Star Child is a counterfeit of what Christ promises: not a new species, but the resurrection of the body. The question of origins also goes beyond natural science (CCC 284), and the film answers it without God. Ask: who made the monolith's makers? Why does the first tool become a weapon at once, and what does that say about sin? Is HAL a person? What is the difference between being remade by aliens and being raised by God?