Are all heroes actually strategic opportunists?
In Danny Boyle’s science fiction thriller “Sunshine”, the sun has stopped producing the same amount of heat as it had been for many millennia. The earth is enveloped in a cold wave that has covered the planet in a blanket of snow. The only hope for mankind is that a team of some of the world’s best astronauts and scientists travel to the sun a deliver a payload (a bomb that is meant to reignite the sun’s nuclear fission reactions) and restore the heavenly body to its former glory. The catch: the previous payload delivery mission was a failure and this payload has used all the major resources of earth. If they cannot deliver this payload, our solar system will effectively die.
Left at the hands of one of cinema’s greatest auteurs, Sunshine became one of Danny Boyle’s cult classic films. The visual style, the soundtrack and the development of the characters throughout the story leaves a lasting impression on all viewers. The film raises many philosophical questions and finally introduces a villain whose individual strength and sociopathic resolve seems stronger than all those aboard the ship.
It is the introduction of the villain that gives birth to the perceived hero of the film: Robert Capa. His character is meek and withdrawn. He is a physicist who is working hard to make sure that the payload stays intact and functional till its impending delivery. He sends video messages to his sister in Sydney, updating her about the progress of the mission and his emotional state. He speaks to her to express his joy as well as his anxiety about the situation.
Robert Capa, throughout the film, doesn’t seem a likely hero. In fact, he feels like the anti hero in a narrative about the philosophical truth of life and death. Not so much of a Shakespearean protagonist, Capa’s story unfolds in a way that one would have empathy for the pressure he faces to save the earth and all life on it. But when studied objectively, he is Othello’s Iago, the bringer of their collective doom.
Robert Capa forces the captain to change the ship’s course and go into uncharted territory when he sees an opportunity to reduce the chances of failure on his part.
Till things get out of hand, he barely seems strong enough to a leadership role. Even when the situation turns sour, he doesn’t take control of the situation and instead seems like one who is reacting to it, for his personal benefit.
Robert Capa leads the vote to kill off one member of the crew when they are told that there isn’t enough oxygen to sustain all of them.
When things become tighter, he plays the card that he is the only physicist on board and the only one who knows how to release the payload into the sun.
Robert Capa doesn’t oppose the idea of his sole survival when he is offered the only spacesuit to move from one ship to the other, while his other 2 crew members have to adorn space blankets to make the same journey (guaranteeing their death or disfigurement) and another one is left to die alone.
Eventually, he is the one who evades the villain till the end while his crew members are picked off one by one.
Robert Capa presses the release button in the payload and is remembered as the hero of the film.
Even though it is easy to vilify the character of Robert Capa and blame him for the unnecessary drama infused in a simple enough mission, he represents the epitome of a hero in this modern age. According to the epic Mahabharata, this era in time is called the Kalyuga and its hallmark is the need to be measured against your peers. If you do not survive till the end, it is the same as not being there in the first place.
While the hero of Danny Boyle’s Sunshine can also be captain Kaneda, the ship’s engineer Mace or the the behavioral scientist Searle, each of whom sacrificed themselves for the mission, within the context of modern stories and how we perceive our heroes, they are the unfortunate ones who did not survive till tend, thus, are easily relegated to the section of side heroes who weren’t good enough to make the cut.
Like a hustler at a pool hall, or a trickster at a poker table, the hero is one who survives till the end, for better or worse. When he eventually presses the button and a smile appears on sister’s face, it symbolizes Robert Capa’s success as a brother and as a responsible earthling.
Nobody would hear the story that transpired on that ship and how he negotiated his way to survival at the cost of several lives. Nobody will remember that it was his choice that lead them to tragedy in the first place.
Instead, he is the hero because he was the one who pressed the button.
