There is no watching this film one time or even two times. There is no single meaning to it and there are more questions arisen then answers found. The film starts slow and cloaked in blackness, but is undoubtedly one of the most iconic opening scenes in movie history. The movie starts with apes and ends with man (or a man-like apparition) in space; the one consistent link to follow this evolution of mankind is a black monolith, to which the meaning is never truly reviled to the watcher. However, that is what truly makes this movie fantastic.
Lack of dialogue heavily contributes to the elusiveness of finding meaning in this mind boggling movie, yet the dialogue that is so craved for at moments of seemingly never ending silence in the film, when later reflected on, is not necessary. To add words to scenes in the movie would only ruin the breathtaking cinematography that takes up the whole film. Whether it be from the Dawn of Man or views in shots of space the screen is filled with an astounding picture of visual beauty that words could do no justice to what the eye is seeing. With less words the film is seen from a different perspective by every individual watching it, which is what makes it so able to endure the harsh effects of time in the movie industry.
Using CGI effects, Stanley Kubrick (director) was able to give man a chance to see space before man himself had ever even been there. To say that he is a visionary and this film his magnum opus would be an understatement to the glory of the man and the legacy of this film.
To try and explain a detailed plot of this movie would only suffice to ruin it for the first time watcher. In simple words, it is a film about the evolution of mankind from the distant past to a distant future. I once asked my mother about life after death and she told me that when you are a baby you know nothing but your mothers womb, you are warm and fed and comfortable in your mothers womb. You know nothing besides that environment and then all of the sudden one day you are being pushed out and hear piercing screams and see a blinding light, you are born into this world. When you die, you know nothing but the comfort this life had to offer you. At the time of death you are just like that baby only knowing of your mother's womb, with no knowledge of what is to come.
