Passage to Mars

A Mars-Arctic road movie that blows your imagination. A miracle for a science documentary. Usually those bore me a bit. i clicked with this one right away. I was almost sure I would leave the room (my friend downloaded this on iTunes). Watched the first 5 minutes, then 10, 20... Couldn't let it go. Something hypnotic about it.

Trying to think what it was... The story? OK, even though it's a classic dangerous trek in the wilderness, this one is very different. The goals and series of incidents... The landscapes, Arctic and Martian are definitely what grabs you (the sound of it, the silence as well) - the crew: these guys a super low key but that what makes it worthy: they leave room for you to get on board and journey with them!!

the music, for sure, but at the end I think it's the narration and the way these diaries catch your emotion and though process. It's not only about hard adventure, it's about our place in the universe. that is what definitely got me on board.

If you're a space buff - as I am - this is for you! This doc is out of this world. Super loaded with hidden references and wrapped with pure beauty. Not sure NASA realized what the filmmakers did - I guess it was approved - but the film breaks out from the formatted genre and takes it to a new level: complex and emotional narration, dimensional layers, both in storytelling and visually (the back and forth between Earth and Mars are stunning and so smartly executed).

The director definitely pushed the envelop. To a point that it's hard to call it a documentary. It's a movie, tracking with an impossible true-life road trip - and it's the first movie of this kind I see.

Watched it twice to make up my mind. First I was just got caught up, blending in the Arctic and other crazy shots (spectacular). Then got deeper into the reflection. Powerful. This film stays with you like a great wine.

Passage to Mars is one of the best documentaries on space exploration matters I have seen in years. Actually, no... It's not a documentary. And here is why...

The film qualities are countless: astonishing cinematography, editing, scoring and innovative narration style (for a documentary, using the voice over as the expedition's leader diaries vs a usual "witness narrator", was a great path).

But beyond a cinematic successful enterprise - or, perhaps, because of it - the film manages to take you to other worlds.

Beyond the "road movie" - a NASA 2,000 mile - never before attempted sea ice crossing - this trek is a fable, almost an allegory, by the poetry blending with ethereal landscapes where our own thoughts get unleashed and free to reflect on our own existence and the very meaning of our destiny. Here, in space, or anywhere.

The way Passage to Mars ventures into unknown territories (the Arctic and Mars), it can barely be categorized in the documentary genre. Just call it a film, that's what it is. An artistic exploration of the unknown and of our deepest soul.

"Why do we Explore?", to quote the film, is what the film is about. And I loved it, beyond the spectacular and entertaining quality of the film. Makes your mind roving.

Passage to Mars is, to me, a Passage between Science (the NASA expedition) and Fiction (our destiny in space and on Mars). So, perhaps, this is the purest science fiction film you can find this month.

Well, in these last 2 0r 3 decades, I thought the spirit of adventure had died. On the field as well as on screen. The times of Cousteau were gone and the excitement of exploration, curiosity, gone with him and a few others who had showed us a new path. At least, that's what my childhood had been made of. Passage to Mars proves me wrong. This spirit is still alive.Not this adventure of man struggling against wilderness, but adventure with a purpose. Here, to cross 2,000 miles of Arctic sea ice to bring to an isolated NASA outpost a rover, and train for Mars exploration. Starting as an icy road movie, the film transforms the experience into an immersive extra- terrestrial journey, at times ethereal and fascinating, where both the whiteout and Martian storms merge. You learn a lot of new things about Mars, and especially why we have to go there: the quest for life. Another life. But what kind of life awaits behind those Martian fogs?

The pace is quite perfect. From high speed action to slower moments of silent landscapes on Earth and on Mars. You don't really get to know the crew members. However, you feel you share their journey, right with them, aboard the Humvee. The film delivers an optimistic message beyond it's entertaining quality, and poses some crucial questions about our very existence. We loved it.

Loved the elements in this film, the snow, the ice, the wind, the glittering stars passing by when we travel through space, the Mars sand dunes, the storms, the red dust... The sounds, or the quietness of it all, in space or on the ice. A film calling for our senses. including fear.

Very spectacular and magnetic. It won't please everybody, cause this doc. breaks many rules and might confuse the routine of some viewers. It's nothing like the classic, formatted TV doc. It's a "movie movie" of its own, arty and outside the box.

I loved it. Very sensible and inspirational. Some science, not much, just enough for me. Enough to understand I actually knew very little about Mars (there's is not only water there, but snow, four seasons, and a day last 24 hour like here, a dust storm can cover the entire planet... But above all, there might be life there, and that's what we are looking for).

but the science is not what stays with you for days after. You just don't watch the sky in the same manner. You feel very small. But you feel puzzled to be surrounded by so much life, when there is so little of it all around Earth. Very sensible and inspiring movie.