Aniara
- Director: Pella Kagerman; Hugo Lilja
- Writer: Pella Kagerman; Hugo Lilja; Harry Martinson
- Producer: Annika Rogell
CGiii Comment
Earth is buggered...let's all bugger off to Mars!
Here's a film with - quite possibly - the longest timeline in cinematic history...it literally spans 1000s of years. Aniara is a dark, pessimistic tale about humanity...the hopes and ambitions and the crushing reality when it all doesn't go to plan...all explored within the confines of a rather large, out-of-control spaceship!
It takes a brave filmmaker to take on the might of Harry Martinson's epic poem...purists will probably pick fault with every scene. But, hey...not everyone is a purist! This is a version, an interpretation of the text...it makes you think, it makes you sad, it makes you ask yourself questions...what would you do if you found yourself infinitely hurtling through infinity? That's not a question you blurt out at a dinner party!
The directors have worked magic with their budget...the atmosphere is palpable, the claustrophobia is tangible, the hopelessness is indisputable. It's not without a few faults...but, considering the budget and the richness of the source material...it's a damn decent effort.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Aniara is the story of one of the many spaceships used for transporting Earth's population to their new home-planet Mars. But just as Aniara leaves the ruined Earth, she collides with an asteroid and is knocked off her course. Aniara's passengers slowly realize that they'll never be able to return; they will continue onwards through an empty and cold universe forever. The Swedish Nobel prize winner Harry Martinsson wrote Aniara in 1956. The novel has been translated into a number of different languages, including danish, finnish, english, russian, czech, arabic, japanese and most recently chinese. It has been staged as opera and several theatrical productions, but has never before been filmed. In Aniara's inexorable journey towards destruction there is a warning that cannot be emphasized enough. There's only one Earth. We have only one life. So, we have to take responsibility for our actions and constantly guard our environment and our humanity. If we don't, Earth will soon be a paradise lost.
Cast & Characters
Emelie Jonsson as Mimaroben
Bianca Cruzeiro as Isagel
Arvin Kananian as Chefone
Anneli Martini as The Astronomer
Jennie Silfverhjelm as Libidel
Emma Broomé as Chebeba
Jamil Drissi as The Intendent
Leon Jiber as Daisi Doody
Peter Carlberg as Chief Engineer
Juan Rodríguez as The Man from Gond
David Nzinga as Mima Host
Dakota Trancher Williams as Tivo
Otis Castillo Ålhed as Isagel's younger child
Dante Westergårdh as Isagel's younger child
Elin Lilleman Eriksson as Yaal