: The Black Hole
When I was in junior high I had been living overseas most of my life and had seen very few movies. I even enjoyed the filmstrips and other educational material provided at school. Thus it was real treat for me one day when we were rewarded with an all-school assembly to watch an entertainment film. The film was Disney’s The Black Hole and I found it fascinating.
Unfortunately, my less mature peers did not, apparently, for many of them talked and were rowdy during the film, even after several reprimands by the principal. Finally he called it quits and canceled the film mid-way through and we were all sent back to our classrooms. I never understood why the film had to be canceled for everyone — why not just remove the distrupters? But for decades I have been left haunted by that half-viewed film.
I finally got to watch it today (I don’t know why I never caught it before now, but I hadn’t). It’s really a neat film. There are dorky aspects — the talking robots, especially the one with the southern accent, are silly — and I’m not sure about most of the “science” in the film, but somehow the story rises above most of that.
The plot involves a small crew on an exploratory vessel in deep space who come across a giant ship near a black hole. Somehow the ship is not being sucked in, and when the crew investigate, they discover there’s only one human on board. He lives with hundreds of robots that do his bidding and keep the ship going. But there’s a strangeness about the man and his story doesn’t quite add up. As the crew investigates, we slowly realize that the ship captain is insane and has murdered his crew and plans to go into the black hole to see what’s on the other side.
The mystery is well done. It’s creepy and interesting and suspenseful and I now see why I’ve been desperate to see the rest of this film all these years. To end it in mid-story like that is a travesty. Unfortunately, the film becomes a little action-heavy after a great beginning, and I didn’t find that aspect nearly as compelling. But it’s still a fascinating story with an unusual ending. Everything is well done, even the special effects — remarkable for a film from 1979. I especially liked the dramatic music (many scenes have no dialog and just feature rich music and gorgeous visuals). Definitely a classic and worth your time. It’s a little slow at times and may not appeal to everyone, but it’s so different and unexpected compared to most science fiction films that everyone should check it out.
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