TIFF 2022 GOOD NIGHT OPPY: A Reflection by Robert Aaron Mitchell

 

"At the beginning, there's nothing. There's no concept of a robot explorer crawling across the surface of another world. And then, gradually, you start to think. You start to act. We just start to build. And those machines come to life." the principal scientist on the Opportunity mission. Steve Squyres 

Oppy is the affectionate nickname for the Mars exploration rover named Opportunity. Oppy was expected to be operational for 90 days and wound up roving the red planet for fifteen years. In Ryan White's documentary, Good Night Oppy. Ryan White has directed previous documentaries, notably, The Case Against 8 which was the behind the scenes look at overturning California's ban against same-sex marriage and a film I helped screen at The In Light Human Rights film festival in Bloomington, Indiana in 2014. 

White and his team follow the rover and the scientists over the course of Opportunity's lifespan. From the ten years of proposals until NASA gave the green light to begin the program. To how would they get the rover to Mars. How do you get the rovers to land on Mars without damaging the robots. How do you build the machines so they can roam the arduous surface of Mars. What cameras and other equipment to you put on the rovers to collect and transmit data? The rovers began to be created at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "It's just a box of wires, right? But you end up with this cute-ish looking robot that has a face." Doug Ellison, camera operations engineer.

At one point early on we see Oppy navigating the surface of Mars and stops at it detects a hazard. It is only Oppy's shadow and NASA informs the robot rover she is safe to proceed. In 2003, twin sister robots named Opportunity and Spirit were sent to Mars. 

One of the great sequences in the documentary is watching the scientist figure out the airbag landing system to get the rovers to land safely on Mars. We see people sewing this giant airbags. We watch the creation and testing of the parachutes. One of them crash to the surface during a test. That was going to be one of the parachutes that were going to go to Mars.  There is genuine suspense as we follow the trials and tribulations of undertaking this mission to Mars. There are so many things that have to go right for any scientific space exploration mission and there are so many more things that can go wrong.

"And along come Opportunity. And on every test, Opportunity came through with flying colors. So, even before they left this planet, Spirit was troublesome, Opportunity was Little Miss Perfect." Doug Ellison. We see Opportunity take her first steps. "To say that it is like a child being born would be to trivialize parenthood, but it feels kind of like that." Steve Squyres.

In an age of science denial it was great to spend time with scientist asking questions about life on other planets. The grand adventure, the thrill of discovery and the act of creating robots. How can you not get emotionally caught up watching the rockets blast off to Mars with Spirit and Opportunity. "...it was hard to say goodbye. I devoted 16 years of my life to these rovers. And then you put them on top of a rocket and shoot them into space and you're never going to see them again." Steve Squyers. 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? As the Sols go on and Oppy lives far past her projected lifespan. She gets arthritis and suffers memory loss. It is a hell of a thing to get so emotional invested and defeated when the two rovers pass away.

Spirit and Opportunity. It what was expected to be a 90 Sol mission. Opportunity explored Mars for 5262 Sols. What a journey. Roam where you want to.

TIFF 2022 MY POLICEMAN: A Reflection by Robert Aaron Mitchell

A lot can and will be written about the 2022 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival but there is no doubt that one of the biggest stars to arrive in Toronto was Harry Styles. King street was crowded more than it has been in years which was a great change of pace form the last couple of Septembers. The screams, oh yes the screams. Loud is not a word that does this collective sound justice.

Waves cross the oceans. They can be rough or calm but they are always moving. Rolling in and out. Rolling out and in. The tide can be high and the tide can be low. Waves can be metaphors or they can be literal. There is a house by the sea where waves are literally crashing into the beach. Those same waves are extremely rough today such as the regrets of a life nearing an end. 

J.M.W. Turner was a British painter. Arguably Britain's most famous painter. Turner primarily painted in water colors. His landscapes were vibrant, expressions of color. His maritime paintings were also beautiful practices of color interpretation. Fiery palettes. The seascapes were also violent. Turner's watercolors depicted life as both beautiful and turbulent. Ships on fire. Ships sinking. Snowstorms, swirling vortexes, slavers throwing the dead overboard. In Calais Pier (1803) Ships are in a momentary break from a storm and are desperately trying to navigate extremely turbulent seas trying to reach the safety of shore. Waves man.

My Policeman opens with the metaphorical and literal waves of the sea. A frail old man Mr. Hazelwood (Rupert Everett) arrives at a house. The house of Older Marion (Gina McKee) and Older Tom (Linus Roache). Older Tom is not happy to have Mr. Hazelwood staying with them. 

Marion begins to care for the old man. She takes a reflective smoke break. As she looks out the window she spots Older Tom walking up the road. The camera lingers and she and us are back in time with Young Marion (Emma Corrin) and Young Tom (Harry Styles). They are standing on a beach. Young Tom says, "I'm a policeman now" The titular character. Young Marion remarks to Young Tom that "Must be quite fulfilling" Young Tom looks over to Young Marion kinda smiles and looks back at the waves. We since that life as a policeman is not so fulfilling.  Since they are at a beach and you guessed it waves are rolling in. Could anyone have guessed that Marion is afraid of water. She is. As Young Tom says to her, "Well, you can't go through life afraid of the water." Instead of going into the ocean though they head to a pool or as Young Tom calls it a Lido. 

Young Marion and Young Tom begin spending more time together. They are in a library and Young Tom mentions he has never really looked at art before. He know believes he could get something out of it. Young Marion asks if there is any particular painter Young Tom is interested in. He asks if there is a painter named Turner. Oh Young Tom, indeed there was. He was also arguably Britain's most famous painter whose water colors were interruptions of beautiful and turbulent life. They acquire some books and Young Tom studiously pours over the pages. Swimming lessons in the lido continue. Oh glorious summer days of youth. 

Young Tom takes Young Marion to the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery will they will be going on a private tour conducted by the Director of the Western Art Galleries, Young Patrick (David Dawson). Young Tom met Young Patrick at the scene of an accident where Young Patrick was a witness. An accident, a random act that occurred in the never unfolding universe. The three of them stroll through the empty museum surrounded by so many beautiful pieces of art. They stop at a painting by arguably Britain's most famous painter, J.M.W. Turner. They then look at a painting done by Blake. As Young Tom says, "Blake's trying to startle the senses as well as the spirit. There's so much passion in his work. You just have to let it take hold of you." There is a lot at work in this sequence Young Tom and Marion are on a date. This is the first time all three people are in the same space. There are stolen glances from all three people directed to one another. Unspoken words, a tension is building. Perhaps the two boys fancy Young Marion. 

The three become inseparable. Attending classical recitals. Dinners. Talk of travel. Young Patrick wishes to go to Mother Russia because it is the setting of his favorite novel Anna Karenina. The story of Tolstoy's novel goes, "The story centers on an extramarital affair between Anna and dashing cavalry officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky that scandalizes the social circles of Saint Petersburg and forces the young lovers to flee to Italy in a search for happiness, but after they return to Russia, their lives further unravel." Young Marion hasn't read it. Young Patrick assures her she must because it is literature's most tragic love story. He goes on to insist that all love stories are tragic. 

Time is the frequency of longitudinal energy waves. If a wave frequency changed today we would not know the difference. Our perception of time would still be the same. So it goes with Young Marion, Young Tom has changed however Young Marion cannot register it. They get married, they consummate the union, Marion lies and says it was lovely. Time is a miraculous concept, it matches ever forward and yet while sitting still in a house by the ocean one can go back to the days of youth. A dairy written by one you caring for in elderly state of life helps. My Policeman takes on qualities of Rashomon. The glances and the subtle touches at the art museum take on different meanings. 

The crux of My Policeman, many other writers and reviewers seemed to have a personal grudge against Harry Styles and what acting chops he brought to the film, some more than likely were caught up in a the stories out of Venice days prior. Stories of in fighting on another film, a possible spitting incident at another world premiere. Harry Styles was fine. The crux is My Policeman is a film that leans into metaphor of the art the characters are gravitating towards and a simple look at the plot of Tolstoy's novel leaves none too much dramatic surprise. Of course this story is going to be tragic, because aren't all love stories.