Sunshine, 2007, directed by Danny Boyle

The Fountain, 2006, directed by Darren Aronofsky

Danny Boyle’s “Sunshine” and Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” are two strikingly spiritual films – the former more surprisingly than the latter – yet the conclusions of either film couldn’t be more different than the initial similarities they share. 

“Sunshine,” released in 2007, revolves a group of scientists above the Icarus II (a rather appropriate allusion the Greek mythology) that is carrying a sizable cargo of nuclear explosives, hoping to reignite a dying sun and ultimately to prevent the end of human existence. “The Fountain,” released in 2006, revolves around a neuroscientist named Tommy who is trying to save his wife Izzi from succumbing to a deadly tumor.

The dynamic of both films rests on the idea of mortality, and on our pursuit of scientific understanding in attempting to delay the inevitability of death. Oddly enough, I found “Sunshine” to be a more spiritually moving film than “The Fountain” despite Aronofsky’s obvious religious allusions throughout the film; likewise, I found the “The Fountain” to be oddly more academic and secular than “Sunshine” despite Boyle’s obvious efforts at creating a feasible, scientifically-sound scenario. 

Spiritually Moving? 

When I say “spiritually moving,” I mean it in a different sense than “religiously moving” in that spiritualism isn’t bound by any religious institution or credence – it is simply an individual experience, and a personal one for the matter.

“Sunshine,” ostensibly a hard science fiction film, places its scientists against the backdrop of a dying sun that is nonetheless awe inspiring and utterly, beautifully elemental. The sun is such an incredible presence throughout Boyle’s backdrop that the experience of simply seeing it becomes almost like a existential ritual for one of the crew members aboard the Icarus II.

“The Fountain” jumps between history, fantasy, and present day, three timelines that are interconnected by the emotional trajectory of Tommy as he copes with mortality. Two of the timelines, the historical and the fantastical, provide a escapist contrast to the bitter, grittier reality that Tommy physically occupies. 

The visual effects in both films cannot be argued against: both tout some of the most fantastic, most awe inspiring landscapes that could possibly exist within cinema. Ironically, “Sunshine” is more successful in evoking a spiritual sensation than “The Fountain” for one simple reason: the specificity of the special effects themselves. 

In “Sunshine,” the primary visual effect was the sun, and the nothingness of the space in between. The sun was simply a massive, incredible tour de force that each of the scientists faced, and in its shadow of space each character reacts differently: some regarded it with fear, some with awe, some with rational, some with despair, and some with hope. Everyone copes with their own moral and existential qualms differently, and after awhile I couldn’t help but be moved by the image of the sun as well. The sun, in its massive, elemental depiction, was something to behold, appreciate, and ponder. 

In “The Fountain,” Aronofsky drew heavily from established religious symbolism that, ironically, actually detracted from the spiritual experience I can only assume he had in mind (this is separate from the emotional experience, which was a rather poignant one). There was less to be interpreted, less to be pondered about (there’s less to interpret about Adam and Eve, the Tree of Life, or passage from Genesis than a blazing, omnipresent sun); the film, with all its immense symbology and mythological-religious allusions, became more academic than spiritual by accident.

Since most of “The Fountain’s” symbology alluded to a previous mythological or religious interpretation, the film is essentially more eclectic than “Sunshine” and thus, ironically, Aronofsky created a less spiritually encompassing film than Boyle did. In fact, you could even argue “The Fountain” was more secular than “Sunshine” in some respects, at least in the academic sense. 

Divergent Conclusions about Science in the Scheme of the Universe

Both “Sunshine” and “The Fountain” pose the same question regarding mortality – to accept it or to overcome it – and both come to different conclusions that are both completely rational and understandable. 

The scientists of Icarus II “Sunshine” are given the task of reigniting the sun in order to save mankind after the Icarus I failed to complete its mission. It turns out that the captain of Icarus I was a extremely religious man that, after 16 months in space, concluded that the mission was sacrilegious (“I am Pinbacker, Commander of the Icarus One. We have abandoned our mission. Our star is dying. All our science. All our hopes, our… our dreams, are foolish! In the face of this, we are dust, nothing more. Unto this dust, we return. When he chooses for us to die, it is not our place to challenge God”) and kills his entire crew to prevent the success of the mission; eventually, he manages to board the Icarus II and attempts to stop the surviving scientists aboard the second mission from accomplishing their goal. Despite all of these setbacks, Icarus II manages to send their cargo of nuclear explosions into the sun, and mankind is saved. 

In “The Fountain,” Tommy goes through several stages of emotional changes as his wife Izzi succumbs and eventually dies from her brain tumor. As a neuroscientist, he works obsessively in his lab to find a cure for brain tumors, at some points even prioritizing work over spending precious remaining time with Izzi. It’s only after she dies and he has a emotional outburst (“Death is a disease, it’s like any other. And there’s a cure. A cure – and I will find it”) that Tommy finally comes to accept the inevitability of death as the ultimate outcome, and that life moves on in some form or another (Tommy plants a seed for a tree to grow upon Izzi’s grave at the very end). 

The conclusions of “Sunshine” and “The Fountain” contrast with one another like night and day, yet they are not at odds with one another. Despite the fact that “Sunshine” asserts that scientific understanding can overcome natural limitations and that “The Fountain” asserts that scientific knowledge will lose out to death, both conclusions about mortality, despite their inherent differences, complement one another. The reason is a simple difference between the emphasis on the collective in “Sunshine” and on the individual in “The Fountain." 

In "Sunshine,” Pinbacker acts in accord with his own belief, and while he has every right to his own beliefs, his actions affect more than himself since humanity is at stake. Pinbacker effectively tries to impose his own views on the rest of humanity, a view that essentially aims to cut off any survival instinct and effort from continuing to exist. The crew of Icarus II, regardless of their own philosophies, place their own individual impulses beneath the task that humanity has given them to perform – a task that reflects the desire of the majority, a desire to continue living. 

In “The Fountain,” Tommy’s efforts will ultimately impact humanity as a collective, but in the present his actions affect only a select few – himself, his colleagues, and Izzi. Death is inescapable, and that we spend a good deal of our lives attempting to delay its onset; however, Tommy initially refuses to believe this fact, and instead relentlessly tries to overcome the limitations of current scientific knowledge in order to cope with something completely out of his control. Izzi, on the other hand, comes to terms with her own demise, and spends her last moments in peace. Eventually, once he comes to terms with his grief, Tommy accepts his own limitations and the odds of life, and finally understands that there will always be a certain random, statistical aspect of life that he cannot control no matter how much knowledge her attains. 

“Sunshine” concludes that the collective desire to survive outweighs the individual qualms, and “The Fountain” concludes that an individual’s mortality is an escapable fact of life. “Sunshine” touts the capacity of scientific pursuit in understanding and overcoming natural limitations, and “The Fountain” reminds us that scientific pursuit has its own limitations as well. Both films are spiritual and secular, though to a degree “Sunshine” succeeds more in creating a spiritual experience while “The Fountain” succeeds more in creating a secular one. Ironic, to say the least.