BY ANTHONY BEDOY
Angels and Airwaves is a band not largely appreciated by the general public, mostly due to the whiny voice and poppy feeling to their music. Whatever one feels regarding such types of music is largely irrelevant to the powerful message conveyed in their first full-length film, Love. This independent film, released in 2011, won awards at countless film festivals and shocked and awed viewers with scenes of colors, lights, and sounds unlike any other. As an introduction, the film begins as the International Space Station orbits a darkened and shadowed Earth as a narrator with a tormented voice is heard: "They say when you hear sounds of devils, all else is quiet." The story revolves around a man who loses contact with Earth due to reasons unexplained (most likely nuclear annihilation) while trapped on the International Space Station in the near future. As life supports dwindle, Captain Lee Miller battles to maintain his sanity. His life is claustrophobic and lonely as he contemplates the possibility of hope. In addition to the beautiful and iconic cinematography, the film also traverses many questions regarding life, its meaning, and the metaphysical and communal existence of humans.
The film puts quite a large emphasis on the importance of human life, even to the point where Miller mulls over the choice of suicide by plummeting towards the warm soil of Earth or by slow painful death alone. Throughout the film there are sequences of mysterious transmissions that transition scenes in the film. These transmissions are stories of individuals from Earth that have lived through pain, agony, and suffering yet still see the value of connection and human life. "We're social creatures, and we need to interact with people. That's why relationships are so important, just so crucial for existence." Finally, Captain Lee Miller comes to a strange culmination of insanity and hope by stumbling upon a strange and fulfilling mystery aboard the ISS. He finds himself questioning the importance of human history and humanity's individual inherent value. "I have decided I am not looking for one discovery. I am simply hoping that we have a history worth remembering."
I would heartily recommend that anyone see this feat of cinematic beauty and philosophical majesty. Despite the fact that it may not be immediately clear or understandable in every degree, it is a piece worth mulling over seriously, especially in the ramifications for our human society, peace, and regard for all human life.