Dare I say it? This is a movie about…everything. About life, and death; creation and the apocalypse. About our world, and the destruction of nature as a result of humanity’s greed. It’s about inspiration, and God, and obsession, and art, and the darkness and goodness of humanity. It’s about war. It’s about healing. It’s about the possibility of burning everything down to the ground to start again, hopeful that we can learn something from the last time we fucked everything up. But are we doomed to keep repeating the past? Is there something at the core of us that both keeps us alive and vibrant, and yet dooms us for constant self-destruction, no matter what we do? At what point will we lose the ability to rebuild ourselves? At what point will we destroy our lives and our world for good? Maybe we already have, and we don’t know it. Maybe we’re in a constant cycle of forgetting. Forgetting that we’re past saving. Forgetting that we’ve sucked the world dry of everything it’s given us, and that we don’t deserve it anymore. I don’t think I’ve begun to scratch the surface of what Aronofksy has done here. But wow, has he given me a lot to think about.

I think…This is a film about belief, ultimately. About our thirst for something – anything – to believe in, regardless of the cost. Whether that be some sort of divine creator, or an idea, or a piece of art, or money and power, or simply a purpose in life. What are the repercussions of our beliefs? What are the ramifications? When everyone has a different belief system, what ultimately happens to this world, and to those in it? If this movie is to be believed…it always ends the same way. With the simultaneous act of destruction and creation. Why? I suppose that’s the question we need to ask ourselves. Why does it have to be this way? Because we let it? Or because it’s destiny? I suppose the answer will depend on what you believe in.

4.5 stars out of 5