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“Cosmic Collisions” is not a movie in the traditional sense. It is not
what I would call a documentary. It is not in theaters. You can only
see it at The Museum of Natural History in New York at the Hayden
Planetarium. It is what the museum calls a “space show.” It is also
the greatest show in town.
There are very big showy gestures that we see in the usual Hollywood
blockbuster, where cars, planes and buildings spectacularly blow up.
“Cosmic Collisions” is on a higher level of spectacular, an experience
more than enough to keep the audience firmly in its seats. There are
parts when I jumped, when I moved, when I squirmed in my seat that put
Jerry Bruckheimer to shame. “Cosmic Collisions” makes mincemeat of
every James Bond film. This film is a feat of digital wizardry that
one will not see anywhere else. Not being a techno geek it matters
little to me how these masters of the new technology made the film.
That they made it so flawlessly and that I was able to see it in all
its glory was thrilling enough. For the record, everything one sees in
the Hayden Planetarium half moon auditorium was developed over long
years by The American Museum of Natural History astrophysicists,
scientists at NASA, and what the museum calls other international
colleagues.
The events the film describes are powerful beyond words.
On the 100 foot diameter Hayden Planetarium dome, the film projected
in crisp, vibrant color illuminates the actions that shaped our solar
system over millions of years, actions “that shaped our solar system,
changed the course of life on Earth and continue to transform our
galaxy.” There are space collisions from the past – at least how
astrophysicists believe they happened -- and we witness the remarkable
movement of the stars in our solar system. We are able to watch
through the magic of digital composition, the formation of our home,
Earth.
 There
is no dialogue. There are no actors. There are no people in this
movie. There is only an unassuming voice-over by a major actor. His
name – Robert Redford.
Yet, it has enough explosions and action to satisfy a teenage boy and
every other high testosterone, obviously male viewer. This, by the
way, does not exclude the girls (women); many who were at the event
and were as awed as were the boys (men.) Children make up a big part
of the audience. It is truly an educational film in the best sense of
that maligned term, that parents can bring their children to without
suffering sneers and the unhappy stamping of feet.
In fact, this film, may define best the greatest epic of all time –
the creation of earth and the world surrounding it. There is suspense,
though we know how it will turn out because we are living on the earth
created in the cosmos.
 Best
of all, every seat in the house is the best seat. We easily watch
everything that happens in the half moon sky in this story, as if we
were there as the universe came into being. As we lean back ever so
little, everything comes magically alive in the most unexpected ways.
These cosmic events emerge from every angle of the sky above. The
changes come unexpectedly and excitingly. That is a good part of the
fun. Even the floor shakes to simulate the impact of a meteorite, in
this case, one that helped end the age of dinosaurs, more than 65
million years ago. The skies rumble, rattle and move as we witness the
dance of creation. All this adds to the fun of watching the universe,
in a way, booted up and now on line for all to savor.
For more information about show times and more detail how the museum
made the film, go to
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions. Go to On Exhibitions and click on
Cosmic Collisions. It is worth the trip. Finally, there was no
popcorn, and no sticky floors from dropped candy and spilled soda pop.
That, itself, was a blessing.
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At NBC News for 35 years, Ron Steinman was bureau chief
in Saigon, Hong Kong and London, was a senior producer on Today and wrote
and produced for Sunday Today. At ABC News Productions, he produced
and wrote documentaries for A&E, TLC, Discovery, Lifetime and the
History Channel. He has a Peabody, a National Headliner award, a
National Press Club award, a International Documentary Festival Gold
Camera Award, two American Women in Radio & Television awards and
has been nominated for five Emmy's. He is a partner in
Douglas/Steinman Productions, whose latest documentary, "Luboml: My
Heart Remembers," aired on PBS' WLIW/21 and the History Channel in
Israel, April 29, 2003. He is the author of, "The Soldiers 'Story",
"Women in Vietnam," and most recently, "Inside Television's First
War: A Saigon Journal," University of Missouri Press, 2002. |
