Hooptober XII | 8/31 | Countries 6/6 | Denmark | Decades 4/9 | 2010s | Cults 1/3
There is protection from nearly everything, but there is no protection from mankind.
A space elevator ascends from Earth, with Earth’s surface covered by a massive hurricane. Aboard the space elevator, a mother tells her small child to say goodbye to Earth. The space elevator arrives at its destination, a luxury spaceship called the Aniara, its interior closely resembling a higher-end cruise liner. An announcer wishes them a pleasant passage on their three-week journey to Mars. The Mimarobe runs off the elevator onto Aniara, where she joins flight captains on an elevator up to Mima, where she works.
The Mimarobe turns on a device that glows an orangish red, causing her to enter a trance-like state, during which she experiences her memories and emotions about the Earth as it once was: green and hospitable. In her experience, the Mimarobe walks through a forest, eats berries off a bush, and watches a waterfall. She then joins the Astronomer in her room, and they strap themselves down for the transition to zero-G.
An hour passes, and everything is routine for the voyage. Somewhere in space, a bit of space debris cascades through space. During a Mima demonstration, the debris collides with the Aniara, and the ship veers off-course. After some panic, the captain announces that the debris hit the ship’s reactor, forcing them to jettison all the ship’s fuel. As a result, no one can control the Aniara anymore. The plan is to pass a celestial body and use its gravity to reorient themselves in the correct direction. The captain expects it shouldn’t take any longer than two years.
The film follows the voyage, the sudden importance of Mima as a means of mental escape, and the impact of all those memories on Mima’s artificial intelligence. What no one except the Astronomer, The Mimarobe, and maybe the captains know is that they will likely never pass a celestial body.
I’ve seen enough movies to know that, when I’m about to watch Swedish Sci-Fi, it’s going to be bleak as fuck.
Thematically, the film explores how humans handle not being in control of their fate. We have a version of the future where humanity did enough right to get life going on Mars, but not enough to save Earth. We’re on a ship that no one can control, hoping to encounter a celestial body with no promises. They have the supplies to sustain life indefinitely on board the vessel. So all that’s left is the mental and emotional impact.
Mima becomes an escape, but the impact of it consuming all the terrible memories is that it starts giving them back. The Mimarobe tries to shut things down to give Mima a rest, but the captain will have none of it, as the current system works. It starts to sound similar to the mentality that is contributing to the current ecological crisis—we ignore the warning signs and continue to do what has worked. It’s not a perfect analogy, but it serves the story.
The Astronomer overseeing the trip is a mithatropist, willing to leave anyone on Earth to die as long as she is safe. The Mimarobe has a more humanist perspective, perhaps due to her Mima experiences. The film challenges The Mimarobe’s perspective by highlighting the darkness that follows them as they try to build meaning from any unexpected turn.
While some facets of the movie reveal its smaller budget (notably anything shot in space), the production design is pitch-perfect, giving us something near-future yet recognizable. Grounding our visual surroundings further connects us to the humans experiencing this and the direction their lives take.
The film makes many jumps in time, giving us more glimpses of the future. It serves the intent of the film, so I wouldn’t call it a flaw per se, but by painting with such broad strokes, it becomes challenging to draw out deeper characterizations of the people we follow. For me, prioritizing the sci-fi over the characters made me appreciate the movie a little less.
That isn’t to say I didn’t connect with any characters, or that any of the emotional beats weren’t moving. I still quite enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to any sci-fi fans.
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