Futurism logo

Review of 'IO'

Tenacious Earth

By Paul LevinsonPublished 5 years ago 1 min read
Like

IO's a quiet gem of a movie—on Netflix—which reverses the usual pattern of humans embarking out into space, to the edges of our solar system and to neighboring star systems such as Alpha Centauri, so humanity can survive a dying Earth. I'm vividly in favor of humans going out into space—see Touching the Face of the Cosmos—but not at the expense of our planet. I want to see humanity thrive both on our planet and off it in the universe beyond.

And IO explores and makes this point beautifully. Earth is apparently dying. Sam (well played by Margaret Qualley) believes in her father's view that the Earth is not irrevocably dying but slowly coming back to life, regenerating itself via bacteria and bees that can live in the toxic air and even make it breathable again.

But time's running out. Micah (well played by Anthony Mackie, to appear in season two of Altered Carbon), who believed in her father's vision, comes to kill him, because he saw lots of people including his wife die, as they waited for our planet to revive. But it turns out that Sam's father is already dead, and Micah changes his quest to saving Sam by getting her to leave this planet via one of the last space vehicles.

I won't tell you how this ends, but the answer is wrapped in poetry and art and queen bees and human reproduction, too. And amidst all the ruin abounding in the movie, and the temptation of all humanity decamping Earth for the moon around Jupiter and the Earth-like planet around Proxima Centauri, it's good to see a vote of confidence in this planet.

See IO, stay with it until the end, see how escaping versus staying and rejuvenating plays out.

First Starship to Proxima Centauri - with Just Enough Fuel to Get There

movie review
Like

About the Creator

Paul Levinson

Novels The Silk Code & The Plot To Save Socrates; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Best-known short story: The Chronology Protection Case; Prof, Fordham Univ.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.