Slingshot

As Slingshot comes to its climax, Casey Affleck’s character John is put in a very powerful position, with the audience having the anticipation of a decision and action, which most think is irrational. That kind of sad ending is quite uncommon in movies these days, especially not those made during the seventies, but not extraordinary altogether. But Slingshot twists this in a more unusual way. I will explain a little in order to explain how unusual before coming to closure.

First there are bittersweet “Romantic Death” films, such as Somewhere In Time, where the main character may have to die in order to have everything they ever wanted but lost, they may get what they needed. The suicidal decision of the main character may be an act any sane person would refrain from, but is such an eloquent reflection of how much a person ( or in the case of Steel Magnolias an archetype) was cherished. 2024’s I Saw The TV Glow does an interesting inversion of this.

Let’s say that there is still a “sweet bitter” ending where the protagonist gets what they always wanted but not what they actually needed. There is, however, as in this day and age there is many example: Godfather 2 where Michael Corleone does such concretizing erosion as about brother which is in the long line of decision that has been able to retain a criminal empire that he has never cared about and have lost those he loves. So, Dune 2 is a more recent example.

Less abstractly there are films where there always has to be the industry kink and if that option isn’t exercised then someone literally dies because they made the wrong choice. This happens more in the thriller/horror more.

Slingshot films like The Vanishing do this to present the protagonist with a very human weakness irksome as it is not apparent to her. In others such as Occulus, Life or Fallen it is done to indicate that there exist external entities in control of the situation such that an orchestrated ‘luck’ that turned out to be a draw at most, where in fact did not stand a level playing field to begin with.

Just like in some of the above, Slingshot also has a fantasy of a happier ending which is abruptly thwarted by horrificaion of reality. But the difference is not in what John does, but what is, and what does John think he is doing.

Now that he has internalized the first twist, namely that his crew mates were only images of his fantasies, John eases himself into the airlock, against the sounds coming out from the radio. May be those last later voices were as fictitious as Nash and Franks.

Just as he steps at the threshold into it, a computer says ‘space suit not worn’ and he turns and see the suit, rope and all, neatly fixed in the cupboard. The inner door is still open, which means that he can walk back in and suit up if he wants to, secure the tether and explore the possibility of being outside the Earth or Earth itself.

But he does that, bluntly so to speak. This is the quota where Jackie Brown joins the picture. While talking to Max Cherry about deadly risks she engages in, he dares to reproach her: ‘It’s easy for you – you just try to make excuses.’ She understands that her severe strategy nears an end and she will either perish or be imprisoned, still she is at a point of her life that she would like to take chances in exchange for a better life for herself.

John could be deluded into thinking the voices are really present and he is really headed home to his heart woman. But, he recognizes the fact that he may still be floating in the space and decides to drill away at this possibility. Although more than that, in my opinion, it is such voices that he deploys as an excuse to simply do what he intends to do anyway: to finish his wretched decree, one way or other.

Similarly to the Slingshot films on Romantic Death that he can do even make horrible decisions we fans do not approve of because we are not standing in his shoes but are only Tivo-ing everything he goes through as opposed to going through it himself. But however this is the one for the story.

As soon as he opens his eyes for the first time, the hibernation cycle stings more than expected and continues only downhill from there. Slingshot is also the last chance to retrace one’s steps and return home, the last moment when it was still possible to survive those hours, but Franks is out of the running and his desire to carry out the mission trumps any instinct to survive, Nash.

(That overpowering Nash pushes the story forward leaving John weak in the end.) How it took time for wrestling out there, first out of their heads how unimaginative or inhibiting it was, and then why it just was the way it was.

But such issues crop up from time to time and in hindsight the assignment seems quite a bit more of a business and marketing parade and less of a charity venture. Yes, I must admit there is probably an uncomfortable truth as to why the mission is in the end just about looking for gas and not about saving the world like some other movie Sunshine. In a way, on the other hand, it lets him finish dooming the mission without worrying about the consequences or accountability as they do not lie with him.

If the film was a little less remorseless this could be looked upon as the answer to “How far does a man take to avoid going in therapy?” What it is, is a portrayal of how suicidal thoughts work and what they mean by whispering the sweet nothings to the victims.

And that even if a victim knows that the lies may be untrue, the victim still chooses the latter rather than endure more pain. Pain avoidance, like the flies attraction towards the flame, is also hardwired in us even if it is maladaptive.

When Franks threatened to shoot him unless the mission could be completed, John stated that he would just as soon take a bullet than be forced back into a state of suspended animation again. However, it is true imitation of suicide by Franks that cannot be achieved as Franks and his weapon are just figments of one’s imagination.

So John’s head having created a ‘dummy’ that kept him on-mission at this stage creates justification for him to stop, which at best does not involve ‘surrender’ and allows him to regain the ‘fresh air’ that he said he wanted the most.

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