A large group of astrologers in full star-covered robes engage in a lively and heated discussion about a journey to the moon. A team of six chosen astrologers accept the mission, and a rocket is launched into the unknown. Upon arrival on the moon, they are met by extraordinary extraterrestrial beings beyond anything we could imagine in our wildest dreams.
This short film is considered to be the very first science fiction film ever made, even though director Georges Méliès had previously explored the theme in earlier works. As the title suggests, the film is about a journey to the moon.
Who else but the visionary Jules Verne could provide us with such a charismatically fantastic story about something most people rarely even dare to imagine? The film is based on Verne’s 1865 novella De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon), and one cannot help but be amazed at how he envisioned the future. Some of what he described was so accurate that many have claimed he must have had a time machine. It would take 67 years after the film’s release before this fictional story became a reality, when the first humans walked on the moon on July 20, 1969.
Georges Méliès was known simply as “The Magician,” and he became famous for the special effects in his films. But this film is a wild spectacle, and there is absolutely no attempt to limit the imagination. At times, it is quite comical, and more than a hundred and twenty years after its release, it is difficult to fully grasp what Méliès aimed to achieve with this delightful little film. I’ll leave the analysis to you, but one thing is certain: this film is utterly essential in the history of cinema, and especially for sci-fi enthusiasts, it is an absolute joy to watch.
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