Friday, April 08, 2011

Kubrick's overlooked masterpiece?

The idea that America faked the moon landings in the late 60s and early 70s is possibly the only conspiracy theory or, if you will, hoax that gets more attention and interest than the theories around the JFK assassination. Indeed, it was possibly one of the most popular, debated theories ever until Dan Brown unleashed The Da Vinci Code upon the world, making Biblical theories somewhat more popular conversations than whether or not a man ever set foot on the moon.





One of the most inspired, intriguing and to a degree plausible aspect of the whole hoax theory is exactly how they did it. The answer for many is quite simple – get the man considered to be one of, if not the, greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick, to make it. He was, after all, making his epic 2001 A Space Odyssey at the time the fake moon landings would have been filmed; what better “cover story” could you wish for?





Someone called Jay Weidner has recently released the first of a proposed trilogy of documentaries exploring the hidden messages in the films of Stanley Kubrick. The first, Kubrick’s Odyssey Part 1 – Kubrick and Apollo, looks at the how and why he faked the moon landings, and indeed gives observations on how he revealed clues to “the truth” in later films.

The documentary, alas, is something that I am not likely to see for a while. It is a USA only release at this stage, and a quick check has shown that it will cost twice as much to get it delivered here than the disc is priced. Oh, and it will only arrive at the end of June!





I am then unable to speculate on what the documentary is like, but reviews have suggested that it is “hilarious at first, then all of a sudden feels scarily plausible”. I am hopeful that it will get released in other places around the world sooner rather than later of course, as I wish to see it as soon as possible!

whether or not the moon landings were indeed faked is something that i do not really have a qualified opinion on. the whole thing looks to me as likely to be real as it is fake, to be honest. the more i read, though, the more i am likely to lean towards accepting that the whole thing might well have been the greatest hoax in history. those of you who wish to read up on the "facts" that explain how and why it was a hoax, as well as see and hear an apparent admission from Kubrick's widow that he did indeed create this hoax footage, are advised to visit this webpage and read away. i have no idea how many of the "facts" listed are genuine, have fun working it out.


I am aware of at least one aspect of this documentary, however, and a rather surprising inclusion. Apparently this documentary speaks of how Kubrick hinted at his involvement with the hoax quite heavily in The Shining. I had assumed that this would be the focus of Part 2 of this trilogy, but there you go. the details of how Kubrick apparently slipped in details of how he made reference to his fake moon landing film are pretty widespread across the internet, but some of the interesting points are how "things are not what they seem" in scenes where young Danny is wearing his Apollo 11 t-shirt, the fact that the Hotel room used for strange events in the - get the name - Overlook Hotel is 237 instead of 217 as per the Stephen King novel (the distance between the earth and the moon? 237,000 miles), and of course the highly debated, open to interpretation ending which features......a faked photograph.





you would have thought that the was enough material to fill volume two of this series with all the hidden messages in The Shining, but i guess not! who knows, perhaps it will elaborate on the above points and more, although it's rather difficult to imagine how it will be illustrated, since you would have thought it rather unlikely that either Warner Bros or the Kubrick Estate are likely to allow permission to use footage from any of Kubrick's films to help show off these theories.

there can be no doubt, however, that volume two or three of this trilogy shall focus on Kubrick's final masterpiece, the infamous and certainly misunderstood film Eyes Wide Shut. the internet is almost full to breaking point with theories about this film as it is, it would be interesting to see if a documentary on the film had anything different to say.





in regards of Eyes Wide Shut, there are of course some quite frankly offensive, ridiculous theories about it. some would have you believe that the world has never seen Kubrick's "real" version of the film, one that would have exposed the "illuminati" (or similar) as being in control of the world. these theories extend to suggest that Kubrick was killed rather than died in his sleep, with the proof being that he died exactly 666 days before the dawn of 2001.

without having seen the documentary, do i believe that Stanley Kubrick made the fake moon landing films? well, such an idea would certainly have appealed to his sense of humour and, more importantly his passion for perfection in film making. going on accounts of technology at the time, it certainly seems like it would have been a good deal easier to film a fake than try the real thing. however, it does push the boundaries of plausibility that such a perfect cover up has persisted for over 40 years now, doesn't it? there's also the matter of Kubrick making a film that he was not able to claim as his own work, ever. that's as unlikely as the other theory regarding him and another well known film - by virtue of the fact that he was making The Shining at the same time on the set next door, rumours have persisted that a large amount of the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, was in fact made by Kubrick. rather unlikely, but apparently he did it secrectly as it was made by 20th Century Fox and he was under contract with Warner Bros. i do doubt the truth in this rumour, but then again it would explain why this one was the best of all the Star Wars films!

if you wish to see the documentary and can get a DVD from the USA a good deal easier than i can, you can order a copy of the film here. if you get it, happy viewing!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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