As a general rule, it can be assumed that any movie with the word ‘Earth’ in the title is either an environmental allegory or a science fiction fantasy. “Another Earth” is anything but. While having a slight sci-fi bent with the discovery of a nearly identical copy of the Earth in the solar system, tonight’s movie was more an anthropological investigation than space exploration.
On the day that a new Earth is discovered in the heavens as a tiny, taunting blue spec, our protagonist’s life takes a fateful twist. In the space of a few seconds her dreams of going to MIT are traded for a prison jumpsuit as she is involved in a fatal collision with another vehicle due to her own intoxication. As the movie develops the twin Earth grows closer and our heroine struggles to cope with the repercussions of that pivotal event in her life.
Symbolically the movie gives us the approaching planet as a symbol of redemption and opportunity for rebirth after failure. We also get a chance to see the impact of the realization that we are not, as a species, alone in the universe. Society stands enraptured at the possibility of getting to know the “other” Earthlings. This is a movie that lives on after the viewing in the form of the conversations that result.
At a technical level the execution of the film was amazing. The music, photography and storyline worked in perfect harmony to advance the narrative in the film in a way I’ve very seldom seen in any modern movie. Unfortunately, due to the mistaken belief that this is a science fiction film and its very non-Hollywood ending, I’m expecting the film to fare poorly at the box office. Despite that, this movie earns a very satisfied 9 stars out of 10 from this reviewer.
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