After weeks of reading great reviews and hearing how it topped the box office, I finally decided to go see the film Gravity.
As I walked away from the ticket counter heading towards the theater, I had a good feeling that this was going to be life-changing. I knew there was a reason I hadn’t seen this film since it was released in theaters just last month. I wasn’t mentally prepared for the impact that Gravity was going to have on my life.
Watching Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) enter her first space shuttle mission, I couldn’t help but think of all the obstacles that might occur in this movie. Based on the trailer, something bad was going to happen and I had to wait to find out.
Dr. Stone was performing a service on the Hubble Space Telescope while veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (Clooney) was floating around with his jet-pack. They received a warning from Houston about a cloud of debris headed their way. Shortly after the warning, the debris hits and all communication is lost with Houston. The team still transmits information, just hoping someone will hear them and will send rescue instructions.
The impact of the debris left Dr. Stone drifting through space. As she spun further and further away, she lost sight and communication with Kowalski. At one point she couldn’t see anything but black.
My heart pounded as I hoped she was going to stop drifting because there was no way the movie would be over that fast. Nearing a blackout and in a state of panic, communication came back with Kowalski and he came to get her. They made their way back to the space shuttle, only to find out that the rest of the crew was dead. It was just the two of them left.
Veteran Kowalski located another space station and flew them there as his jet-pack was running out of fuel. Yet Dr. Stone had no idea if she was going to survive that day. Kowalski asked her where she was from and told her that by that exact time tomorrow, she would be back in her town.
When the two arrived, the impact was so hard that it caused them to become detached. Dr. Stone’s leg got tangled into the parachute rope and she grabbed onto the strap that Kowalski was holding onto, saving him from drifting away. Understanding that the ropes are too loose for the both of them, Kowalski unhooks himself from the strap and drifts away. The two are still able to communicate and he gives her instructions on what to do next. Once he drifted too far off, communication was lost and she had to rely on only herself in order to survive.
I learned in the movie, that Dr. Stone was a loner. She had lost her daughter and was in a state of stillness. She woke up, went to work and then took a drive. That was her routine that kept her alive. That was all she was living for. Now, there she was in space, alone. No longer having the comfort of her routine. No one there to tell her to keep pushing or to give her further instructions.
Another debris storm comes through and again, Dr. Stone is faced with yet another adversity. I watched as she tried her best to figure out how to survive and land on Earth.
WHAT WE DEAL WITH IN LIFE
As Dr. Stone entered her first space mission, she wasn’t prepared to lose those who came with her. Nor was that a thought in her head. There were moments she thought (and it appeared) that she was a goner. Moments in which she couldn’t get a grip on the space station and increased her possibilities of drifting back into endless blackness. You could see her fear on screen as she was determined to grab hold of something and remain stable. You could hear her horrifying fear as she breathed with panic and the deepest idea of dying in space with no one to mourn her haunted her mind. The thought of no one to look forward to her return scared her.
Kowalski was a lot like the person in your life who has ‘been there, done that.’ In other words, the person who knows how to handle certain situations better than you because they have been there before. The person who thinks of all the possible options you couldn’t muster in your brain because they have already been through what you are going through. Kowalski served as the voice in her head telling her to keep pushing, hang on and enjoy the ride of life. He was there to remind Dr. Stone, that she still had some fight left in her and there was still an option to survive.
She almost gave up, but didn’t. She was alone, in life and in space, yet she pushed through. She relied on the knowledge Kowalski gave her and the power within herself to make it. After she tried every thing she could, she left it in the hands of fate. Either she was going to burn to death or land on Earth to tell her story. Her fate was to live.
Dr. Stone floated down to Earth in a nearly burned capsule and landed in the water. In an attempted to escape from the capsule, she opened the hatch and water rushed in sinking the capsule. At this moment, I’m thinking, “Just come on now! She can’t possibly die now. She is almost there!” She got out, and realized that her space suit was weighing her down and making her sink – just like the stresses and people who hold us back in life.
In desperate need for air, she immediately stripped from her suit and swam to the surface. The gasp she made at that moment made me realize that we all want to be free from things that make us feel lost and or suffocate us.
Once she laid her face on the sand and smiled, I thought to myself, “Wow. After all of that she made it back on land.” After nearly drifting to her death multiple times, just being able to breathe the air and lay on the ground was a crazy reality check and gift of life.
It is a reality check that we must also realize because we too have the power within to overcome the gravities of life. We just have to believe and be willing to fight through – no matter how much we feel that we are drifting.
We always have to keep fighting through as we find our way.
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