A Review of the movie "The Martian" and more!!

The Martian – A Review and More

 The View from the Middle

Last night, my wife and I went to see the movie “The Martian”, and we were not disappointed.  This movie offered a very engaging story line and the cinematography was so well done that when my wife asked me where it was filmed, I jokingly said, “I think it was done on location.”  It made me feel like I was on Mars or in space, depending on the scene.  It was very well done and the acting was excellent as well.  In addition, there were a couple of great comments this film made about man (and when I say “man” I mean men and women) particularly in the US.

The first comment it made was about the resourcefulness of man.  As you might guess, when Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) was stranded on Mars, there were a number of problems that he had to resolve or obstacles he had to overcome.  Once the people on earth figured out that Mark had been abandoned on Mars, NASA and the mission ship were faced with problems and issues of their own. 

As all of these obstacles were overcome it reminded me of how obstinately clever man can be.  When you combine our innate creativity with the hard work and study that virtually every character in the movie had obviously done, it allows us all to see the true potential of man.  Of course, I would add - a man created by God.

The second comment that this movie made in a big way was the value that we humans place on life.  The movie strands a single human on Mars, and much of the rest of the movie focuses on what we would do to get that single life back.  The movie suggests that we Americans would spend countless man-hours and literally millions if not billions of dollars in that effort. 

At one point I asked myself, “Is this believable?”  And, my answer was “yes”.  I could actually see our government making this kind of effort and spending this kind of money, and, more importantly, I could see the American People being behind it.  It made me proud to be an American human being that would place such a high value on life. 

Almost simultaneously, I became aware of the great dichotomy that exists in our culture today when it comes to valuing life.  We WOULD spend billions of dollars to save one life that desperately needed our help.  Our hearts yearn to act in this heroic and unselfish way.  Yet, while we can be this noble being in one second, we can be absolutely barbaric the next, allowing a partially born baby to be killed in the most brutal fashion as a matter of “choice”, not necessity. 

What have we done to our own consciences that would allow us to be this noble human in one second and a heartless, callous brute the next? My hope is that this movie might inspire that decent, principled side in all of us when valuing life in all the stages of its development. 

Finally, will someone please send a link to this article to Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, and tell her that I will gladly buy her a ticket to see this movie.