by Robert Scocchi
| Published
Ridley Scott Martian (2015) is one of those great movies that makes you feel bad about your survival skills. Although I like to think I have good problem-solving instincts and can think well, everything that happens in this movie is so far out of my league on an artistic, athletic, and spiritual level that I’ll probably give up on the second day of my adventure.
If I woke up on Mars to find that my entire crew had abandoned me in a split second of panic, I would make a giant celebratory tray out of all the food rations, enjoy one last glorious freeze-dried dinner, and, out of boredom, hit the airlock switch just to see how far I could get before my body exploded from the pressure difference.
Matt Damon’s Dr. Mark Watney, on the other hand, remains calm and goes straight into problem-solving mode. It’s really cool to watch, but it also makes me feel awkward about the last time I spilled coffee on my car’s upholstery and decided it would take all day to clean it.
Watch a man solve problems for 142 minutes
MartianThe plot of the movie is very simple and stupid, and that’s the beauty of it. Through that simplicity, we can see Dr. Mark Watney’s brain working at full capacity. When a dust storm forces the Ares 3 crew to evacuate, Mark is left behind. We can’t blame Commander Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), Major Rick Martinez (Michael Peña), system operator Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara), flight surgeon Dr. Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan) or Dr. Alex Vogel (Axel Hennie). They really thought he was dead, and they had to make a decision while in fight or flight mode.
Mark, stranded and injured, immediately assesses the situation and springs into action. Fortunately, he’s a mechanical engineer and botanist, making him the perfect combination of intelligence and calm. Even when he fertilizes his potato crops with his crew’s feces, he never loses focus. And with every new setback MartianWhether it’s a storm, a power outage, starvation, or creeping loneliness, he keeps moving forward.
As his problems become more complex, he tackles them head-on, believing that he will die anyway if he does nothing. I respect that. If it were me, I would have stubbed my toe once and wandered down the canyon after ten minutes of angrily punching the air, yelling F-word after F-word.
Mars emphasizes the importance of common goals
What I love most Martian It is her lack of drama when it comes to accountability. When Mark reconnects with the crew he left behind, there is no resentment, just friendly banter. They tease each other about the music, joke about their jobs, and get back to the beat. It’s like you’re catching up with an old friend you haven’t seen in a year, and you pick up right where you left off because you’re so happy to reconnect.
From there, they refocus, crunch the numbers and strategize how to get him home. There is no grudges or passive aggression. Just a group assignment that echoes the same sentiment: “Good to see to you againman. I would have done the same thing. Now let’s get me off this rock.”
Real takeaway from Martian is that logic trumps emotion when it comes to solving big problems. If Mark had wasted time being bitter instead of trying to extract water from rocket fuel, he would have been “This man“Everyone tolerates until he dies of triviality.
Martian broadcast
Martians The premise is simple, effective and great looking. Just when you think our hero is done, he comes up with another clever solution, as Mark maths and logics his way through each challenge, earning himself the title of self-proclaimed space pirate. Anyone can be like Dr. Mark Watney.
If you want a masterclass in staying calm during chaos, you can stream Martian On Netflix as of this writing.
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