The End of the World / a Trip to Mars (Verdens undergang / Himmelskibet)

Excellent

A TRIP TO MARSI do not know how planet Mars turned into a source of horrors and ugly aliens, after receiving the name of the Roman god of war or being represented in a flattering and intelligent way in this magnificent Danish motion picture. It tells the story of a group of men who follow an inspired pilot who has envisioned his life mission in a sidereal trip to Mars, without imagining what he and his crew were going to find. And what they find up there, by 1918 standards, is amazing: a peaceful community that abstains from killing men or animals of any kind, whose main sources of nourishment are fruits, who have the power to regenerate life, induce healing dreams and aspirational thoughts. After causing havoc with guns and bombs, and after their beverages and canned dead meat are rejected, the men go through a process of adjustment and enlightenment. It doesn't take long for the leader to find his soul mate in Mars, and they all decide to go back to Earth to transmit the Martian philosophy of existence, that is summarized in the verses of the chant the planet's population sing as the travelers leave: space is the mother of life, as it embraces all our globes; we are all equal, we are all steps on the same ladder that leads to eternity; love is the force we humans call God, and only through Love we shall reach flawlessness. The Martians even urges us to get rid of lowly speech, which has become a plague in speech and writing, defiling communication and self expression. All this is done, seen and expressed through handsome images and special effects, in less than 80 minutes. The film even has a bit of humor in the depiction of the evil Professor Dubius (who is obviously dubious of the mission and its success), comically played by Frederik Jacobsen, even when being at his meanest; and the filmmakers also made a bit of social critique, representing irrationality and arrogance through an American character (David Dane, played by Svend Kornbeck), a boisterous, drinking fool, who organizes a mutiny in the spaceship. But while the Professor Dubius is punished, Dane is transformed by the Martian experience. In spite of a few unstable sets or the acting style of the day, this is an excellent film. Just as many may consider outdated the technical aspects of the science-fiction plot, or find ridiculous the tendencies of the cast to stretch out arms as if declaiming an epic poem, and to frequently kneel to suggest reverence, piety of humility, possibly in a hundred years from now the Method acting style of today and our notions of technology would be seen as laughable, so there is no reason why to make a fuss about these aspects and oversize the limitations that surge from the thought and knowledge of the time when this film was made. I still have to watch the other film included in this compilation, but "A Trip to Mars" is highly recommended.