What's Out There?

It was the title that caught my eye, Project Hail Mary. I mused why would a sci-fi film made in Hollywood use that kind of title? Hail Mary is a Catholic prayer I remember the nuns in my Convent secondary school taught us to recite. I didn't know anything about Christianity then. I just knew I felt so... peaceful whenever I entered the small stained glass chapel in the school. I would  dutifully dip my finger in the basin of water placed outside and cross myself before I stepped in to kneel on the pews to say the prayer.  It was only more than 30 years later that I learnt what Christianity is really all about .  

Apparently the film's title echoes a certain technique in American football called the Hail Mary pass, which essentially means a desperate, last ditch effort to score.  According to Wikipedia, due to the difficulty of a completion with this long forward pass, it references the Catholic  "Hail Mary" prayer for strength and help, implying that it would take a miracle to succeed.

So likewise, the film features the near impossible attempt of a scientist-downgraded -to- teacher-turned-reluctant hero to save humanity on earth,  because its sun is being eaten up by a spreading microorganism called  Astrophage. The spacecraft itself is named Hail Mary, representing its make-or-break, last resort mission.  Mary is the AI computer system on the ship, functioning as back-up assistant to the sole protagonist Ryland Grace. 

I dunno if the author of the book itself is a Christian, but for me, the names and the whole plot have  the  markings of Christianity all over it. A last-ditch attempt to save humanity. A suicidal one-way trip to another star system that would be the only hope for earth's survival. Straight away I think of  Jesus who sacrificed Himself on the cross to save mankind from a destructive "organism" called sin. 

Ryland Grace is no willing savior though; here's a guy who considers himself a failure, who has to be literally kidnapped and forcefully injected into a coma to get him on board Hail Mary . When he wakes up, he finds  his other 2 crew-mates dead, leaving him the sole survivor to  bury them in  space.  His  very name is such an apt pun - Grace, mirror-ing the first line of the prayer  Hail Mary, full of grace. Indeed, grace was what he needed and what he had for the journey, which would involve just him and an alien he named Rocky.  Rocky, a totally funny,  really lovable and solidly dependable character which name envisages for me  the true Rock of salvation who goes all out to save a friend, a being so totally different, yet so totally loved. That's what a divine Jesus did when He came to earth for the human species - the creation God so totally loved. 

From the very first "go", the movie had me. Who can Not relate to Ryland Grace, actually a scientist with a brilliant mind, ostracized, rejected by his own. Which human has never been disappointed by another human? How many of us simply withdraw into our own "safe" shells, letting life pass us by, because of fears and hurts we have experienced,  which are easier to just bury in our hearts than to resolve? 

But God our Creator doesn't pass us by.  Whether we like it or not, His call will come, most probably when we are at our most "contented as we are" stage in life. That's when He pops up to shake us up. So it was with Grace, "happily" (or not) trying to explain to kids why earth's sun is being "eaten up", a bit or a lot. When the call comes through Eva, the tough lady in charge of the project, and Grace says he's not ready to sign up, she refuses to accept his "no" because she has faith in him. Isn't that so like God, who refuses to give up on anyone, even though they give up on themselves? That's my God who says, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain..."(John 15:16). Big fruit, small fruit, doesn't matter. What matters is good fruit - which remains.  

When Grace makes excuses, that "I don't have the bravery gene that you all have.." the lead scientist who has volunteered simply pointedly says, " ..it's not a gene. You just need to find someone to be brave for."  There are indeed many worthwhile altruistic causes people can volunteer for; all of which are very noble and good. But the one that beats them all is that which calls for a sacrifice of oneself for others, even to the point of death. In other words, who would we die for? Jesus  died for the world. 

The first meeting between Grace and Rocky is so endearing. Imagine a big rock with 5 appendages sticking out like our hands and legs.  Grace uses Mary the AI computer to "translate" Rocky's sounds into English so they can communicate. Very quickly Rocky learns human language, expressing itself in a quirky way, ending almost everything with the word, question. It's like Msians ending our sentences with "la." 

So here's 2 lonely beings, 1 earthling and 1 alien from planet Erid,  thrown together in a wild frontier called space. It's a long movie - 2 1/2 hours - with just 2 main characters interacting most of the time, yet, they manage to pull it off superbly; making me laugh and cry, sometimes even simultaneously. Rocky moves in to become Grace's space-mate, since both have lost all their crew. It's so touching  when Rocky tells Grace it will watch him sleep, because Eridians are totally paralysed when they sleep, they can't wake up themselves. And Rocky in turn insists Grace watch it sleep. It reminds me how my God watches over me... In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)  

There's plenty of action that follows as they journey through space to get the precious anti-Astrophage specimens to save their respective planets. But after learning that Grace cannot return home, Rocky offers enough astrophage to refuel Hail Mary. There's such pathos when Rocky says simply, "Rocky watch whole crew die. Rocky not fix. Grace say Grace will die. Rocky fix."  But Grace is rendered unconscious in an accidental fuel leak.  Which leads to Rocky breaking  his own protective  spacesuit to save Grace, but in the process is itself severely injured.  So now it's Grace who takes care of Rocky. After Rocky "resurrects" from hibernation,  both head off to return to their respective home planets. It seems all will end well. 

But in a twist of events, Rocky's ship is in danger because its fuel is being eaten up by the astrophage- consuming organism. Now Grace has to make a choice - he can go on back to save earth, or  save Rocky.  It's a poignant reminder that we will all have to make difficult and/or conflicting choices in life.  How we choose reveals whether our heart is for self-preservation or for others.  Grace chooses to forego his own "thing",  sending off his research and specimens back to earth on automated mini-ships launched from Hail Mary . He himself turns back to rescue Rocky and so gets to begin a new life on planet Erid; living in a special biodome exactly like earth with beaches and all, created for him by his alien friends. 

Even when Rocky tells him that Eridian scientists have finished repairing Hail Mary so he can go back home,  Grace simply turns to  begin another day of teaching science to Eridian children. It's a beautiful scene,  it makes me contemplate - where is home really?  Is there a better place, a heaven "somewhere out there?"  For me, it's not a physical location, no matter how beautiful. Home is ultimately where we can be with the One who loves us with an everlasting love, that goes beyond human love, which ultimately is all transient and temporary. 

In an earlier scene before the onset of the journey into space, Grace had asked the project leader Eva, "Do you believe in God? Her reply: "It's better than the alternative." It wasn't so much of her personal belief but a pragmatic response to a scenario of total destruction, that anything is better than death.  Actually, that's not just a line from a fictitious film, but a reality already spoken of in the Bible, for the wages of sin is death. Unlike a fictitious Hollywood film, there really is an alternative to death  which doesn't depend on anything that human heroes can accomplish; but on a God who alone can save :   "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men  by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12.) That name is Jesus Christ, the One who gave His all for the all whom He loved.