OBLIVION (HOW LONG?)

Last summer in a cinema, and since then on DVD, our family has enjoyed watching the movie “Oblivion.”

The film is based on an unpublished graphic novel of the same name written by Joseph Kosinski, the picture’s director, and tells the story of Earth following a catastrophic event.  

Without wishing to disclose too much because the film surprises as it unspools, its protagonist, played by Tom Cruise, is a paramilitary technician-cum- repairman stationed aloft among gorgeous clouds, who is responsible for maintaining drone weapons that protect and defend oceanic power stations utilizing sea water to generate fusion energy.  

Like the “dystopic” RoboCop before it, “Oblivion” affectingly, and on a fundamental level, examines what it means to be human and definitively affirms human dignity in the face of exploitative, immoral fascistic forces.  

The acting performances by Cruise, Olga Kurylenko (pictured above), Morgan Freeman (who, thank heaven, goes beyond his usual “phoning it in” posture), Melissa Leo, and particularly Andrea Riseborough as Cruise’s work partner Vika, are all outstanding.

My daughter Jane, who is going to be an engineer (the Gulf Spill oil collector in last position HERE is an example of her previous inventing and design work), set her mind to determining exactly how long it would take for the rapacious dynamo machines in "Oblivion" actually to complete draining all of the waters from Earth’s oceans.   

Her calculations are presented herewith for your perusal.  You are kindly invited to check her work.

Pretty Things: Judgement Day (Link)