Matt Osterman
400 Days

What greater dream does humanity have than finally setting foot on the surface of the planet Mars?

Nothing compares to such a great endeavor.

The greatest endeavor possible after the first moon landing by a human being on July 20, 1969. Back then, it was Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who set foot on the Moon ('One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind...') while their companion Michael Collins controlled the command module Columbia.

As far as I'm concerned, the definition given by Neil Armstrong when setting foot on the surface of our satellite is correct: that was a great leap for humanity. The greatest leap possible and one that, after thousands of years of human history (understood as 'homo sapiens'), has definitively changed every possible perspective of ours on the evolutionary plane and also regarding the very survival of the species.

This is despite the fact that it may clearly appear premature to discuss such topics.

In the sense that although I am convinced that the time will come when it will be indispensable, necessary for the survival of the species to leave this planet, I do not believe that this necessity is as imminent as the most catastrophic hypotheses would have us believe.

This obviously does not mean that I am inattentive to the evident problems related to the 'environmental' degradation of our planet and issues such as climate change. These are a reality.

But I think that, in some way, humanity will manage to adapt and 'hang in there' for quite a while before leaving this planet or finding alternative solutions becomes something urgent. Indeed, I believe, I am firmly convinced that we will take this step driven by reasons of economic convenience even before being literally backed into a corner.

At the same time, I do not believe that this moment has already arrived and that these prospects, as such, seem to us somehow very distant and undefined in time.

What else could explain the general lack of attention to space travel?

Scientific research progresses, it is unstoppable and will continue to be. It was unstoppable even during the years of ecclesiastical obscurantism: history tells us about the abjuration of Galileo Galilei. This happened in 1633. Yet his contribution to history and science remains a reality.

Nothing can prevent technological and scientific progress because it itself is a conditio sine qua non of human existence.

This can slow down, at least apparently, but in reality, it is a process that has never stopped since the origins of our 'conscious' history, and moreover, the definitive breakdown of every geographical barrier has only accelerated this process even further: this is evident from the history of the last hundred years.

The overcoming of what may be ideological barriers would ideally be the next step, but it is evident, looking around us, that there is still a long way to go to reach this point. We might even never get there, considering that these are closely linked to economic interests that constitute themselves - it is evident - another typical condition of humankind.

Ultimately, we are not yet going to Mars. Not yet, and I do not rule out the possibility that we may never go there because, at the moment, it does not seem economically viable and might never become so. Just as, in the meantime, new discoveries could prove to be much more convenient and interesting for space exploration and travel.

I exclude the possibility that we will go to Mars in the short term for two fundamental reasons. The first is of a practical nature. It is evident that our technology is not yet advanced enough to sustain a journey to the 'Red Planet' and what would be the consequent creation of a self-sustaining colony.

Several simulations in this regard have revealed that this possibility does not (yet) constitute a reality.

This despite the statements by Bas Lansdorp and the Mars One project, one of the greatest global hoaxes regarding space exploration.

It is evident, moreover, that only a joint operation of the major world powers (particularly the USA and China) with those that are solid, concrete realities and truly enlightened in the entrepreneurial world—I naturally think of the brightest mind of our generation, namely Elon Musk—could make an operation of this kind possible.

But there are not enough political interests to carry out this type of operation (Barack Obama at the end of 2016 stated that by 2030 the USA would go to Mars, but I doubt this will happen...) and the current international situation is not exactly inclined towards cooperation among the different world powers.

Moreover, it is evident that as fascinating as it is, the operation itself is not economically viable enough to attract the interest even of a brilliant entrepreneur and inventor like Elon Musk, who, although interested in technological development in every possible aspect, certainly does not overlook his 'businesses'. Nor would he blindly embark on a project without foundation as the current attempt to establish a colony on Mars could be.

Nonetheless, experimentation and research in this regard proceed and will justly continue until a subsequent breakthrough is reached and finally humanity returns to space travel.

Simultaneously with laboratory scientific research, proper 'simulations' of space missions proceed as well, like those conducted by the HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) project.

The project, which has already completed five missions (the next will start in 2018), involves simulating the creation of a Martian colony in an environment as similar as possible to that of the red planet, located on the island of Hawaii on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano.

The purposes of the experimentation are varied: scientific, social, and concerning the coexistence among the different subjects involved.

The consequence is, it is evident, that the importance of this type of missions is in any case central regardless of whether or not a journey to Mars and the founding of a first pioneer colony on Martian soil will ever be made.

Taking inspiration from this type of simulations and simultaneously drawing heavily from the sci-fi and scary horror imagination, we have this beautiful independent science fiction film written and directed by American director Matt Osterman.

The film is titled '400 Days', and as far as I know (though I could be wrong), it was never released in Italian theaters, while it was distributed in the United States and other countries (for example, in Australia) starting at the end of 2015.

Starring Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Ben Feldman, and Dane Cook, the film tells the story of a hypothetical experiment where four potential astronauts undergo a 400-day simulation on Earth in an underground bunker (where the environment of a hypothetical spacecraft has been reconstructed) to study the long-term effects of space travel.

Clearly, the four individuals all have, peculiarly, their own characteristic traits and, as we will discover during the film, a more or less complicated history behind them. It soon becomes evident how the subjects were chosen by the mission leader precisely because of these peculiarities.

A paradoxically inverse process to what is usually thought should lead to the choice of individuals for such a delicate mission, reminiscent, for example, of another of the most successful films in the genre in recent years, namely 'Das Experiment' by Oliver Hirschbiegel (2001), based on the events that occurred at Stanford prison in 1971 and of which two remakes have been made.

However, the film is ideally divided into two parts.

The first part strictly concerns the events during the 400 days of 'internment' and the dynamics among the four involved individuals, as well as the profiles and psychological reactions of the individuals to an evident stress situation.

The second part instead practically develops from the last days of the experiment, when various events begin to disturb the normal course of events.

At this point, the film truly descends into an atmosphere that draws from certain experiences of classic science fiction cinema starting from the 1950s and imaginations typical of 'The Twilight Zone' with developments that are absolutely unpredictable considering what the film's premises are.

Which, moreover, has an open ending that leaves the audience rightfully bewildered about what they have witnessed and what will be the fate that awaits our heroes.

Objectively a beautiful film, despite or perhaps precisely because of the limited budget, confirming in this sense that the best productions in the genre are now those that are independent or low-cost, where one is forced to seek a formula that is simple but nonetheless appealing and with psychological contents, rather than the massive Hollywood productions that themselves now appear as colossal dinosaurs that a forced deviation in evolutionary processes compels us to see proposed by mainstream American cinema (and not only).

Divided between the science fiction of Kubrick and the television works of Rod Serling, Matt Osterman with '400 Days' creates a small masterpiece and a strong emotional experience that literally traps the viewer in front of the screen, like the four potential astronauts in their duties to complete a mission that practically does not exist and which may, in the end, prove to have no reason to exist. Or not...