Earth is burning, and the answer is to move the surviving population to Mars.
The final shuttle ride from the doomed planet blends the humdrum with the remarkable: a mum tries to make her child understand the finality of what they’re doing and wave at their old home (“want to say bye-bye Earth? … you’ll regret it if you don’t!”), while other passengers are resigned or simply keen to leave. Some have burn injuries.
The shuttle takes them to the spaceship Aniara, which in turn will transport them over three weeks to their new home on Mars and a new life, where humanity will have the chance to do the same thing to a new planet all over again.
Those three weeks can easily be filled with the distraction of leisure and shopping, and the spacecraft most reminded me of Heathrow Airport – it too is a cathedral to consumerism, catching passengers’ money as they pause in transit. But it’s also claustrophobic because you can’t escape, so distraction and soothing become even more important.
Based on a poem of the same name (a poem with huge significance in Sweden) Aniara has been an opera and a TV show, but never a feature film.
Originally written by Harry Martinson (later Sweden’s poet laureate) as a response to the hydrogen bomb tests, it is just as relevant now; directors Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja have turned it into an allegory for climate change and consumerism, and how they’re linked.
Aniara brings home the terror of what climate change could mean precisely because, apart from the fact that this society is technologically advanced enough to evacuate to Mars, everything looks so current; not super-modern, or space age. Clearly that’s partly budgetary, but it also means we see ourselves reflected much more clearly and don’t have the luxury of thinking that a futuristic setting means we have time to spare.
The film’s main protagonist is the Aniara’s Mimarobe (an excellent Emelie Jonsson), who manages access to the MIMA – a sentient computer programme which senses memories, soothing and reassuring its users with nostalgic flashbacks of the planet they’ve escaped. After little initial interest in MIMA among passengers looking forward to their new lives, once disaster strikes, queues build as people realise the implications of what has happened.
Soon even the MIMA can’t cope with the influx of uneasy passengers and shuts down.
Disaster hits the Aniara in the form of a barrage of space junk, and particularly one tiny screw which results in all fuel being ejected to save the ship. Now she’s unsteerable, though the Chefone (Arvin Kananian), or captain, reassures them that in only a couple of years they’ll come across another planet, whose gravity they can harness to bounce them back into the correct flight path.
For the passengers two years sounds unthinkable, but two years stretches to three, then four, then more. And although the ending is a belter, Aniara – the spaceship is clearly meant to be Earth itself – is more about how the passengers cope with the dread of their new future, a future it’s too late for them to affect.
With air to breathe and (probably disgusting) algae to eat, the Aniara’s passengers won’t succumb to suffocation or starvation, but minds begin to crumble as they start to face their future.
As the years pile up suicide, hedonism and religious cults take hold. These new distractions appear one by one, like those stages of grief people who know they are dying are meant to go through before they reach acceptance.
Their fallback on cults and God is predictable, as God was already invoked everywhere in their talk of planets as celestial bodies before anything even went wrong. He’s a final failsafe that crumbles to dust.
In their heads people cope differently, though their fate is destined to be the same. The Mimarobe combines positivity and sheer doggedness and one assumes that if rescue never comes, she’ll be the last one left to turn off the Aniara’s lights.
Initially sharing her quarters is an astronomer (a bleakly hilarious Anneli Martini), the terrifying voice of reason and science as all around her take refuge in cults, the remnants of consumerism and the reassuring words of the paternalistic captain.
There is no celestial body waiting to save them, she says. She means a planet whose gravity they can use but really she’s a Richard Dawkins for our final days.
Later the Mimarobe starts a relationship with Isagel (Bianca Cruzeiro), one of the pilots, and they have a baby, but while the Mimarobe always looks for purpose to keep her going, Isagel falls into despair.
The astronomer balances out the initially authoritative, and later authoritarian, Chefone. His journey is understandable, as he tries to manage the flow of information for passengers’ own good. But paternalism can only ever be a temporary solution. “Maybe we shouldn’t have said it’s a rescue probe?” the engineer asks the Chefone after excited passengers and crew have spent months waiting for a mysterious object heading towards them to dock with the Aniara.
Aniara is a fascinating and – in its existential gloom – frankly terrifying study of what we need to live and how easily we destroy it.
This is low budget sci fi, and it does look like they’ve had to work with what they had. It’s a stunning achievement though, tackling the biggest of enduring themes, and the most pressing of planetary concerns. I was thinking about it afterwards not because of its limitations but because of its absorbing characters, compelling questions and bold scope.
I liked the nods to our attempts at saving the planet, which have previously been back-patting gestures and are now essential: sheets are used to cover bodies after a mass death on board, with an order to wash and reuse them (recycling!) afterwards.
And the MIMA, serving the opiate of nostalgia, before collapsing under the weight of humanity’s need. (This is a very female-focused film. Even the MIMA is a she, soothing and reassuring before giving up in disgust. )
This is philosophical sci fi. The gobsmacking ending shocked me when it shouldn’t have, though really the ending isn’t the point. There’s always air to breathe and algae to eat. But simple existence isn’t enough, however long that lasts.
For a spoiler about what happens at the end, scroll down…
Check out my interviews with Aniara directors Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, and actor Arvin Kananian (the Chefone).
Amazon UK: on VOD now or pre-order on blu-ray (out 21 October 2019)
Amazon.com: buy / rent on VOD now
Amazon.com: buy the dvd or blu-ray now
Watch the Aniara trailer:
Spoiler: Okay. it’s depressing. Over five million years after the ship launched, with everyone (understandably!) dead, it reaches a new planet which looks like Earth but isn’t (I know, I checked with the writers!)
After viewing this movie, I was compelled to do some research and I learned that both the poem it is based on and the sensation that accompanied the publication (ca.’56) remains a a major phenomenon. Yet, as an American, I (of course) had never even heard of it. Anticipate viewing this masterpiece twice if (like me) you know nothing about the poem and subsequent adaptations to tv and stage. You will be haunted by this experience. Think about it for a long while BEFORE you seek out the critical writings and ”what did it mean” type videos on YouTube. It is important to live with the experience for awhile, before the ”experts” fill in the details you might have missed. It is comparable to 2001: A Space Odyssey, in that the general theme will be no great mystery, but the ”devil is in the details”. Highest Rating. I don’t know how hard this work hit back in 1956, but in the last months of 2020, it is an essential ”trip” for each of us to struggle with. It is the kind of art that Hollywood could not even begin to conceive, let alone successfully execute.
I liked the movie a lot but was disappointed and not surprised that God was not represented well. You are from Earth and helpless in deep space, there should be many people practicing Christianity but it’s hardly mentioned instead the people seek cults and hedonism. Even if climate change caused this and even if you found another planet, you will still die at some point in life and you need to have an answer for that. People who worry about climate completely miss the point of life which is death. It’s coming just like it has for all who have lived and you better be ready regardless.
I’m sorry buddy, but not everything can be about your personal little beliefs. It’s childish to expect that every movie cater to you.
Personally, I much prefer the imaginative sci-fi of the film. If you want to complain everything isn’t just like you want it, you’re the only one disappointing yourself.
I love sci-fi films, I think the whole concept of space and even potential other life is exciting by any means and I’m also a Christian. But the truth of the matter fact is what about the space object that they pulled on board? If you weren’t going to involve some kind of outside idea like God then why even bring this thing on board there’s no point for it other than that some strangely shaped rock??? Why couldn’t they throw some kind of alien theme to it? if they were going to keep God out of it??? And it’s funny how people don’t want to believe in something when they have all the comforts of today’s world but in this movie it shows that those comforts were removed and it wasn’t soon after that that people turn to anything to believe in because deep down inside humans were made for to believe In something? Even Einstein says you can never displace nor destroy energy and we know that goes between our brain down to our spinal cord so obviously there’s more to us than just simply stopping to exist which points to some kind of higher being if you wanna call it that….
Wow, I find it rather disturbing how Christians view the world…and the fact that you all think everyone thinks like you and believes what you believe (we absolutely do not!). It’s such a narrow-minded view of reality. No wonder people are leaving it, in droves.
Im SO glad they didn’t invoke Christianity in this film because it has no place in it and certainly would have detracted from the scope and message. Do you really think people would still believe the Christian god cared about them if he resigned them to such a dark fate?!? I would certainly hope not!
Also, the whole energy thing and god…what?!? You even tried to tie Einstein into it. Jfc, that’s ridiculous. Please understand your religion is not the first, nor the last and that mankind has been inventing gods since we could communicate. Nothing new.
This wasn’t supposed to be about Christianity or God and I feel as though you missed the point of the entire movie by focusing on your beliefs and expecting them to shine through in the film. I am thankful they didn’t make it about that. And agree to disagree that “the point” of life is death… That’s something I don’t understand about Christians. How…. Sad.
You are downplaying life like it’s a stepping stone. I think when man created religion, they just meant to keep you in line not have you thinking life doesn’t really matter. Or that it’s some pointless bridge to the afterlife. Life is life and you only get it for a brief moment, it is precious. I care about the climate too, by the way. Caring for my children’s children is also pointless I guess? .anyway… This was a lot more interesting watching them crumble and lose sight of reality. Cults are real and especially vibrant in hopeless situations like that. My only real issue was the ending because it was frustratingly sad, but it was definitely perfect. So not really an issue, I was just upset at my feelings lol.
I think it’s absurd to say 5 million years later and there’s still people on the ship? 5 MILLION YEARS?? That ruined the whole movie for me.
They’re dead. Everybody died. You could see bones floating in the ship.
Thier souls were left out in the ship …. in the end may be they were all happy to see the new earth 🌎 arriving closer to the ship
Did you even watch it? The last people were almost dead after everything began failing at year 10 = water, algae farms – by year 24 power and light were mostly gone and the last starving handful were dying in the dark. At 6 million years there was dust, bones, darkness and silence,
I just watched this movie, and in the final scene, I noticed there was a piece of green algae floating in the ship. Was this a hint that the algae would somehow contribute to the re-start of human life on the new planet?? Maybe the ending was actually supposed to be hopeful??
It was a very detailed movie, for a low budget, even more. Yes, religion is there, and it was mocked as such, when nothing and nobody comes to their aid.
I felt a little let down by the “eject the warp core Scotty!” (to quote Star Trek), since in a ship of that size, and with so many human beings on board, they did not have an alternative or spare reactor (I will make sure to ask about it on my next space travel) to deal with something so terrifying.
Some things go unexplained, sadly, like: the object they captured and hauled on board, the little detail about the captain’s hand wrapped with some sort of colorful piece of cloth and why don’t they show any kind of communication, in between the Aniara and Earth or another ship?
The object brought on board is an alien object that just happens by chance to pass them. They pluck it out of space and stop whatever mission it was on. It is made of material that they cannot understand and are unable to even scratch. It is an incredible discovery that in different circumstances would have been the find of the century. But for these unfortunate people desperate to crack it open for it’s another disappointment. There are two lovely touches. The astronomer carries on working on it when the rest go to see the the Captain. This shows that she might be a fatalist and pessimistic. But there she is still trying to burn her way in after everybody else. She was still trying so hard. Then later it shows a shot of the Spear left behind covered in stains from burns, acids, explosives, drills etc. (Reminiscent of the Teardrop in the Three Body problem)
The Captains bandage is a suicide attempt. He lost his second in command who also appeared to be his lover or at least support. He is seen rubbing the captain’s shoulder before he breaks the news to the passengers in his first briefing on stage. The Captain still goes through his routine of putting on his jacket and giving out the medal to MR. He is going through the duties. The actor who played the Captain stated that his eyes should be almost dead by this stage. It is tragic juxtaposition of the chapters name Jubilee which would make us think of a celebration. I found the Captain’s final appearance with his bandaged arm barely concealing his self harm very affecting. MR goes back to her room and we see that the ship, like the Captain, has degraded with blackened water, leaking taps and the end of systems.
My guess is that Aniara cannot communicate while the anti grav drive is on. Turning it off would be too catastrophic for the entire ship’s systems. Furthermore,
Thank you for such awesome insight! I didn’t catch that the weird yellow bandages were prob a suicide attempt which now that you said it – I see that’s exactly what it was….and I never considered the rescue fuel spear thingy to have actually been alien in origin but I love that theory!! And the astronomer had made the point about chance and coincidence which would back up the random alien object. I had thought maybe – like one of the crew said – whoever from Mars Colony? – sent it unfortunately using a technology now more advanced than their capabilities…but I think you nailed it. It’s DEF a great, thought provoking – although kinda a bummer but makes me super grateful for what we have and that that’s not our reality – kind of movie I’ve watched it twice now but with maybe a year in between and it was just as interesting the second time!!
At the beginning of the film, it was explained that all communications would be down until they reached their destination…which they never did.
So, in the end…could the film be construed as a condemnation of those who, horrified by what humans have wrought on earth, have given up all hope in a reckless attempt to abandon their only real home and somehow find a new one? I think I need to go back and listen to (read) what the Mima says as it breaks down.
Humans, having shat in their bed, having befouled their birthplace and sole abode, must needs summon the courage to make things right… whatever the cost. The Ariana passengers failed this basic test, and paid the price. Poetic justice, perhaps.