Passage to Mars

If you expect the discovery or Nat Geo type of format, this one will confuse you. It's a million light years away in spirit.

It's a tale turned to mystery and beauty, celebrating exploration. More poetic than scientific, the film explores more why we want to go to Mars than how (which has been explained over and over again in many other docs.)

The excitement here comes from the mind-blowing beauty of two worlds, and a tiny crew of humans trying to make a bridge between.

You will learn more about what makes us go out there than what's out there. Despite the lack of the usual human drama we expect to get in these real-life adventure docs, we feel close enough to the crew and confined with them to feel immersed and part of the crew.

What is most striking is the back and forth Arctic/Mars, a journey within the journey. I understand why this film is so praised by space community. As for me, the ethereal feel made it all. Fascinating.

Very disappointing documentary of a crew going through the North passage in the Arctic to Devon island (where they set up a Mars camp) to recreate a Mars style expedition. What almost put me to sleep was Zachary Quinto (the new Spock). His voice is extremly monotonous, he's no Leonard Nimoy that's for sure. He narrates on behalf of the crew or leader of the expedition. We see no interviews with any of the crew which I think was a missed opportunity. No interviews with Nasa people or Mars specialists. They went for a celebrity as a narrator. Also I found the narration and the music/songs used to be overdramatic and at times laughable (do humvees dream of diesel sheep? ... ugh). I think this would have worked better as a 50 minute documentary on National Geographic instead of 90 minutes of boredom. Skip it, there are better documentaries about Mars out there. This adds nothing new. But do watch if you can't sleep. You'll doze off in no time.

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.

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.

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.