Stranded (2001/II)

Director:

María Lidón

Writer:

Juan Miguel Aguilera (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 April 2002 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

150 million miles from hope.

Plot:

A team of astronauts on the first mission to Mars crashes onto the surface, losing contact with Earth...

Plot Keywords:

Astronaut | Mars | Space Travel | Spacecraft | Spaceship Crash

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Vincent Gallo	...	Luca Baglioni
Maria de Medeiros	...	Jenny Johnson
Joaquim de Almeida	...	Fidel Rodrigo
María Lidón	...	Susana Sánchez
Danel Aser	...	Herbert Sagan
Johnny Ramone	...	Lowell
José Sancho	...	Andre Vishniac
Paul Gibert	...	Entrevistador

Also Known As:

(Náufragos) - Stranded (Spain) (poster title)
Stranded (USA)
The Shelter (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brief language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

El Golfo, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

Company:

Niggeman IndieFilms S.L.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The space helmets aren't really airtight. When Rodrigo and Sanchez are in the Martian maze and get to the hall where there is oxygen, they just lift the bottom of the masks, which are just resting on the fabric covering their necks. After Johnson and Baglioni leave the spaceship, Baglioni turns slightly and you can see through the gap in the mask.

"Mission to Mars" wishes it were this film.

I wish there were more science-fiction films like this one being made today.

I can't understand all the negativity towards this flick! Here's a modest little film that doesn't depend on huge special effects and gratuitous action sequences in order to tell a cracking little story, with enough twists and turns to keep an old sci-fi fan like myself guessing until the end.

The premise is certainly nothing we haven't had before (think "Mission to Mars", or "Robinson Crusoe on Mars"), but this particular storyline was dense and well paced, no loose ends, everything for a purpose.

The other aspect of the movie I liked was the atmosphere that it managed to build through, what I think, are all the things that people have criticized it for.

It had a sense of calm, other-worldliness, to which the non-US accents, and at times off-beat delivery by some of the actors contributed. The dialog is more naturalistic than in a big-budget Hollywood action sci-fi flick, and this may be why some people found it "weird".

Some of the dialog was a bit corny, but I think deliberately - a little tip of the hat to earlier tales of that ilk (one of the characters conspicuously starts quoting from "John Carter of Mars" at one point, and we feel we're in an entirely different movie for a moment)

The sedate narration from the main actress, the gorgeous locations shots, and even the interior of the Martian complex with its mysterious technology, all contributed to a dream-like and alien quality invoked by this movie.

Great fun!

Rating - 10 out of 10.