On one level this movie is a success. It's an engaging, non-commercial Sci-fi film that is well acted, directed and produced. It held my attention and made me want to find out the fate of the ship and crew.
I knew nothing of the poem. I knew nothing other than what the trailer contained. It is incredibly difficult to adapt a poem which is tied more than any other literary form to the word, into a mostly visual medium. Since the screenwriter seemed to jettison the words of the poem what we are left with is an outline. That's where some problems begin. The poem was written in 1956, when space travel hadn't even started. So, it's pretty lame when a space ship the size of the Aniara doesn't have redundant power and a number of backup plans for when/if things go wrong. But hey, we're already in outer space, disbelief is suspended, so, shut the hell up. There's a bunch character driven scenes but none of character ever develop. The really all stay the same no matter what they've been through. Also Instead of a fully developed story we get inundated with a series of let downs which really come off as more of a drag than tragic. I mean would it really be that bad to be traveling through space? The filmmakers certainly seem sure it is. There's some poignant moments throughout, to be sure. The problem is it's all for a movie that just peters out. What may have had great resonance on the page doesn't make it through the translation to screen.
I think if they had stronger conclusion to what happens to the main character at the end the movie would've worked better. That way the ultimate ending would've become a post script. That didn't happen, so we're left with a movie that just stops on some sort of note about 'the vastness of space'.
All this makes 'Aniara' unsatisfying even though it's well done on many levels.
