The story in Gravity appears to be about a space flight gone wrong. But there is much more going on here than just a movie with some exquisite special effects. The space flight becomes the stage for a much more personal story.
The story is about how two members of a space shuttle mission are trapped in the silent vacuum of space. Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Lt. Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are outside the shuttle, working on the Hubble Space Telescope, when a shower of space debris comes into their orbit.
The debris destroys the shuttle, kills the other members of the crew, takes down the communication satellites and cuts them off from mission control. Stone is set adrift in space. Kowalski is able to maneuver away from the debris and comes to the aid of Stone.
Michael Parnell
|
What follows is not about being lost in space. It is about loss and grief and life and death. As a coping mechanism, Kowalski tries to get Stone to talk. In the course of the taking, Stone tells of the loss of her child, a daughter, who fell and hit her head.
As the movie moves forward it is apparent that Stone is captured by grief. For her to survive, there is more that needs to happen than just finding a way back to Earth.
Kowalski tries to encourage her to focus on living and getting to a place where she can survive. But Stone is hung on the horns of the dilemma — why live? The added burden of her present circumstance and the grief she is saddled with makes her question the need of going on.
Director Alfonso Cuaron gives us images to show the progression of movement through the grief that Stone has to work through. The first place she goes to find solace and aid is the International Space Station. Upon entry, she removes her space suit and falls into the fetal position. When an adult falls into that kind of position, psychologically, it means the person is afraid.
Yet this speaks to more than fear. This is a sign of the progression of rebirth that Stone must go through. If there is to be this movement to embrace life, there must be an emergence into a new life.
When Stone goes into the Russian space craft attached to the station, on the console there is an Eastern Orthodox icon, a picture of St. Christopher, the patron saint of the traveler. While sitting there, with St. Christopher in front of her, she utters words about her belief she will die. She says, “No will pray for my soul.” Then she gives the most powerful words of all: “I would pray for myself, but no one ever taught me how.”
This is a reflection of our current reality. Too few know how to pray or what to pray. We, the church, have hoarded the knowledge of spirituality. Stone needs what we have, but no one shared it with her.
Later, Stone moves over to a nearby Chinese station and climbs into the capsule that can be her lifeboat. There, in the middle of the instrument panel, sits a smiling figure of Buddha. The symbol of the Buddha invokes the Zen concept that Buddha sits in the center of gravity.
In Zazen mediation, the person is to sit and calm body and mind, seeking the center of gravity.
To finally make the journey home, Stone must calm her mind and body in order to move forward.
Too often we see movies that deal with grief which do not touch the spiritual aspects of the journey. A good example is one of Clooney’s films, The Descendents.
But here, Cauron and his co-writer Jonas, deal with the spiritual pain that grief can bring. This is one of the finest movies I have seen that speaks to what happens to a person with grief issues which fall into the spiritual realm.
Though not strictly Christian in its orientation, this movie opens doors for discussion about issues of spirituality and how it relates to moving through the grief process.
Michael Parnell (drparnell@ embarqmail.com) is pastor of Beth Car Baptist Church in Halifax, Va.
Gravity
Rated PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language.
Directed by Alfonso Cauron.
Written by Alfonso Cauron and Jonas Cauron.
WITH: Sandra Bullock (Dr. Ryan Stone), George Clooney (Lt. Matt Kowalski)