The original post: /r/movies by /u/thecaits on 2025-01-02 21:08:38.

Thank you and please go fuck yourself (but not really unless you want to in a good way). This movie is one of the best sci-fi movies I’ve ever seen, and it’s also one of the bleakest stories EVER. It put me into a depressive funk for a week after. Like it is up there with The Pianist for me, but The Pianist somehow has a happier ending, which is really fucking saying something.

Heavy spoilers below so don’t read further if you plan to watch this, which I recommend because it is really, really good and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I first watched it 6+ months ago.

I love the concept, I love how it is told (those time jumps get more and more devastating with each one). Watching this movie felt like being repeatedly punched in the stomach, each time with something even more painful and damaging. The last time…I was left in a wasteland of emotions. This movie is so well done, it has permanently changed how I feel about space travel (not just this movie but it was a part of what changed my opinion).

What’s the point of leaving Earth for a place that is cold and dark and barren? To live in some sterilized environment void of the nature we were born out of. This movie is really an environmental movie. There is no place like Earth that we can get to, and even if we could somehow get there, what is likely to arrive will be an empty vessel. We can’t replace the Earth, this is all we have. Every day we get to see the sky, the green earth, and clear water is a blessing.

I used to believe investing in space travel would lead to a Star Trek universe, but now, I think it’s just another tool to help the rich get richer. Space travel will be a part of the distopian future we are headed to, but it will be poor people sent off to live in the darkness and mine minerals for the rich, while the rich stay on this beautiful planet. Elysium will be here, and if we destroy here, the future will be dark and cold for humanity because here is all we have.

Has anyone else here seen this movie? It’s one I wish more people would see because it is a solidly good aci-fi and those aren’t as common. At the same time, I recommending this to someone feels more like inflicting it on them.

One last thing, if you need something happy after watching this, I recommend a TV show called Avenue 5. It’s got a similar story to Aniara, but it’s all comedy and it is fantastic.