Anatomy of a Scene: HAL and the pod bay doors in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
We feel the slow build-up of tension, filled only with the deep breaths of astronaut Dave Bowman as he attempts to re-enter the Discovery, the large spaceship under the control of the increasingly malfunctioning AI, HAL: 9000 in Stanley Kubrick’s seminal science fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman is floating in a small pod in space, having retrieved the body of murdered fellow astronaut Frank Poole. The silence of space is shown as deafening, isolating and all-consuming.
Kubrick’s tight close-up on Dave’s distinctly helmet-less face inside the dim, consol-lit pod shows us a man trying to remain calm in a moment of time-dwindling desperation. At the mercy of a machine that has, by this point in the film, murdered all but him in an effort to no longer have to lie to the crew about the truth behind Discovery’s mission, Dave’s brow furrows and his repetition of a command that is falling on deaf, artificial ears increase the anticipation of an impending conflict between man and machine, with a sparse soundscape of only heavy breathing and the blips and alerts within Dave’s pod contrasting starkly against HAL’s almost sinister calm, as his goal is almost complete.
The masterful director uses a slow, methodical pace for this pivotal scene, reflecting both the caution required by Dave and the quiet confidence of HAL as he takes a position of silence in response to Dave’s repeated questions.
The repetition of the now iconic “open the pod bay doors, please, HAL,” followed by the eventual, almost sorrowful response of “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that,” take place alongside quiet shots of the small ship floating in front of the larger, AI controlled vessel that shows the sheer scale of the reversal of authority of machine over maker. HAL’s sinister but heartbroken admittance of his awareness that Dave wished to disconnect him is shown over close-ups of his own. The unblinking red light conveys more than it possibly can, thanks to the director’s mirroring of a human face in a similar fashion.
Dave struggles to remain calm as HAL’s unwavering, robotic demeanour persists, which fills his response to the astronauts’ plan to enter via an emergency airlock—”Without your space helmet, Dave, you’re going to find that rather difficult”—which comes across as threatening and combative, despite the tone remaining the same throughout the machine’s delivery.
After HAL declares that their conversation can “no longer serve any purpose,” we see Dave become increasingly desperate. The veneer of calm waned to reveal that beneath our progress and advancement beyond our world, humanity still has the simmering desperation to survive, as seen in the film’s ‘Dawn of Man’ opening sequence.
The scene is an expertly executed demonstration of Kubrick’s ability to create a shifting tone and brings the film’s internal conflict of man vs machine to a subtle but sinister confrontation.
