'The Midnight Sky’ review: A poignant and inspiring tale

George Clooney

The Midnight Sky

Director: George Clooney

Cast: George Clooney, Felicity Jones

Rating: 4/5

Streaming on Netflix

Is there another Earth lurking in the vast expanses of the cosmos? Can we inhabit it and make it our own?

These sort of topics have always intrigued scientists and sci-fi writers.

Based on the book ‘Good Morning, Midnight’ by Lily Brooks-Dalton, ‘The Midnight Sky’ forays both into the universe and the complex human emotions.

The Earth has been devastated by human mistakes and is uninhabitable. All are gone except Augustine (Goerge Clooney), who stays back in the Artic, counting his days and looking out for space missions that are returning home to inform them of the grave situation and tell them not to come.

The story is compelling and heartbreaking: Augustine has to kill a man to relieve the latter of his miseries and the rush of floating blood globules in a zero-gravity environment.

To truly appreciate the visuals, one should watch this on a bigger screen.

There’s a scene where astronauts fix the spaceship and Augustine escapes drowning in the Arctic, which would have been better to watch in 3D. There are many other compelling scenes in the film that made an impact. The walk through the icy paths with several narrowing experiences makes this movie worth a watch. The film’s crux lies in the dichotomy of the melancholy of being left alone and survival.

With the ongoing pandemic, we can learn many things from ‘The Midnight Sky’ such as being mindful about our planet and loving those near us.