The role of the doctor in this modern disaster movie is played by Sandra Bullock, who almost turned down the offer but accepted it in the end. It was a wise decision because it is her best role thus far. The only other actor we get to actually see in the film is a charming grey-haired George Clooney as the veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski.
In the beginning, Gravity is just a routine task in space, but it soon turns into a wild adventure of survival: the Russians have destroyed a defunct satellite with a missile, and a rapidly-expanding cloud of space debris is rushing through space as a result. It doesn’t take long for an American space expedition to get their fair share of the catastrophe, when doctor Ryan Stone finds herself in the line of collision. After their colleagues are lost, only Stone and Kowalski remain to fight for survival against the laws of physics like living billiard balls in space. It is a well-known fact that in space, no one can hear you scream, especially if the radio communication is down, but the most important fact to remember is that life in space is just not possible. When the systems fail, you can only try to get back to where you came from, where there’s people and life.
Gravity is a story about fear and perseverance, life and death, where choices made in a second can be the difference between survival and the end. It is a film about the ghosts of the past, of trying, about the memory of a little girl and her red shoe. Gravity’s humane approach and the intense emotional rollercoaster make one’s own problems seem rather small for a while.
Mia Öhman