The Mars One program had 200,000 applicants to be one of the first 4 people to leave Earth in 2024, and head on a one-way ticket to Mars, with no way to return. As of today, the report is that this has been whittled down to a shortlist of 100, although of course the entire project remains one that is viewed with skepticism by experts and journalists who point out many flaws and omissions in the proposals. Perhaps wisely then, this short documentary stays away from the project and decides to talk to the people – 3 in particular.
Ryan from the UK; Dina from the US (although originally from Iran); Jeremias from Mozambique. All three have applied and seem very serious about going. The film talks to them about their motivations, their backgrounds, the lack of sex on Mars, and other relevant topics. On the face of it, this film should be fascinating – not because of the mission itself, but because we have three people here who are totally fine with leaving everything on Earth behind, and dying (certainly sooner than they otherwise would have done) on another planet. The selection of the three people for the film seems to have been good since they each are interesting in their own way, and the film does a reasonable job of talking to them, but at only a few minutes each (and a constant soundtrack trying to move the film along) there is really not too much time to do any real exploration of note.
This is not to say that it isn't interesting, because it is, but it is only really superficial. Questions about sex (or lack thereof) are jumped to very quickly for no reason, although questions around family, motivations, and so on, do tend to get good answers and interesting discussion – as brief as they are. The film is shot with life and color; with good locations, good use of images from space, and generally striking images of the people as well as more traditional talking heads. It does seem very light though, and one gets the feeling that the makers had a bemused air about them, with the goal of making a short that was more entertaining than revealing. It works as such, and there is just about enough substance to carry the novelty of the subject, but when it works one cannot help but wish that it had spent longer with the 3 subjects, and been a lot more curious.
