Review by C.J. Bunce
It seems like an impossibility: Humans actually make a voyage to the red planet of Mars. Unlikely to happen in the lifetime of anyone living today, it’s still a project that has moved well beyond science fiction to the experimental and planning stages. But who should we select to go on such a voyage? The same types of people selected for the failed Biodome? The same types selected for a year in the International Space Station? Don’t you need to have some sort of… quirk… to want to throw your current life away at the possibility of starting completely from scratch on another world? That’s the question asked in the 2018 independent film Red Rover, starring Orphan Black and Ready or Not’s Kristian Bruun, now streaming free on Tubi TV.
Red Rover is a small film, but it’s a great film at peeling back the onion on what kind of impact regular humans would face contemplating a journey to Mars. The affable Bruun plays Damon, a geologist who seems to be approaching the end of his rope–a guy who gives everything to others but seems to have gotten nothing else in return. That includes a girlfriend who takes a trip to Australia, only to bring back the first guy she met as a new boyfriend. Damon is a sap in every way–he moves into a basement apartment of his home so his ex can live with the Aussie upstairs. Everyone around him recognizes how bad this is. But why does he spend his free time at the beach with his metal detector?
One day while on the beach a woman in a spacesuit approaches him. She has a flyer for Red Rover. What is Red Rover? It’s a play on the kids’ game of flinging your friend to the other side of the playground after being beckoned, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Damon right over.” The astronaut isn’t really an astronaut, it’s The Expanse and Strange Empire’s Cara Gee as Phoebe, a woman currently working on marketing for a new reality show. The concept? Select 20 people to live together for six months, to be whittled down to only four who will be the first to travel to Mars.
This is an independent film that focuses on story, so put aside whether or not the reality show has any chance of being successful. The characters believe this is a real opportunity, and the Jeff Bezos-like man in charge of the program sounds like he has the resources and vision to make it happen. But what does a Mars trip have to do with Damon?
Phoebe is friendly and convincing. She’s the type of free spirit who flits about motivating those around her. She has no ulterior motives. Damon gets fired from his job. He knows his life living so close to his ex is a disaster. Damon begins to make a video of himself to submit to the Mars program. Being a geologist is a plus everyone seems to acknowledge (the last man on the moon was Harrison Schmitt–a geologist). Another applicant is a botanist. She’s played by The Expanse’s Anna Hopkins, a character who would seem to be a perfect partner for Damon on a long voyage to Mars. Damon is only a bit awkward, and certainly can’t make a great video about himself. So Phoebe secretly makes a video of him and submits it.
The movie plays with all the elements you’d find in the story of a suicidal protagonist, but it’s never explicit about it. When Damon decides to apply for the Red Rover program, Phoebe seems to see that he has made a critical life choice–this is a good guy who wants to throw away his life for good. Is the final decision to go on a voyage to Mars the same thing? So at the same time they are becoming attracted to each other, she breaks it off and leaves. Her dream is to be a rock star, and a CD she gives Damon would suggest she has a promising future ahead. But she, too, has her own issues. She lives out of her car. She has much self doubt. She’s a bit socially awkward.
Would you want to live with the type of people they would select for a space voyage if you were locked up for more than a year in a spaceship?
Even as a “small” film about relationships, Red Rover asks all of the relevant questions about a manned spaceflight to Mars. Should humans even go to Mars? Isn’t screwing up one planet enough?
Writer-director Shane Belcourt and co-writer Duane Murray deliver a thought-provoking film that does two things: it’s a love story of two lost people, and it’s almost a science fiction story in its close look at the sacrifices that would need to be made to make such a future journey a reality. It’s exactly what good independent film should do. Check out Red Rover, streaming now on Tubi TV.
