Aniara 1960
IMDb meta-data is a runtime of 2 hours, rated 5.7 by 36 cinematizens.
Genre: SY Fy; Species: Musical; Phylum: Opera.
DNA: Sweden
Verdict: Bergman bleak.
Tagline: A Space Opera!
So static watch screen timer to be sure it is running because no one is inclined to move at first.
A group of leotard clad Swedes prepare to rocket off a dying Earth in 2038, despoiled by nuclear war, to join an established human colony on Mars, where they will live the Swedish Model so loved by Australian public intellectuals in the 1980s.
They prepare to immigrate by standing still and singing.
They board the rocket while standing still and singing.
The rocket goes off course as they stand still and sing.
Time passes. They stand still and sing.
More time passes: They stand still and sing.
The three week trip to Mars will last forever, as the next generation is born on the ship (with its endless supply of food, water, oxygen, Ikea parts). The party of eight thousand settles down to live our their lives in transit, rather as many Qantas passengers have felt at times. They take out their frustrations on each other. Situation normal.
The story started as an epic poem by Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson so it is a science fiction poem of more than a hundred pages in the English translation. That is perhaps unique. On a long winter night, some one had the idea of rendering it as the libretto of an opera in 1959, which in turn sired this film, using the opera cast and most of its staging and direction. Lugubrious is the result.
He must be the only Sy Fy author with a Nobel Prize for Literature.
Beware! Killjoys can find the full text on line and insist on reading to you. It’s as preachy as a Green politician, and just as interesting.
It was remade in 2018, sharing the blame with Norway, and I can hardly wait to see that version.