1. The Dawn Of Man 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The opening segment to 2001, titled "The Dawn Of Man", begins with a tribe of hominids in the Palaeolithic Era who are forced away from their watering hole by a rival tribe. After the mysterious emergence of a black monolith, one of the man-apes discovers that he can use an object, such as a bone, to take action and control over his harsh environment. The montage and the music have been parodied to excess, but this scene of man's realization is forever powerful. And with realization, comes violence. The tribe, feeling less intimated, go back to reclaim their watering hole. The leader uses the bone to murder his rival, and in a fit of animalistic fervour, the watering hole is reclaimed. The match cut, from the bone floating in the air to the space ship millions of years into the future, is a cinematic marvel. But it also signifies Kubrick's greatest dehumanizing moment; from the dawn of man, tools have been used for violent means to justify ends, starting the evolutionary process of man's loss of control, and loss of self. Kubrick's biggest message on dehumanization is that it's irrevocably part of human nature. Think you have a better example of a dehumanizing scene or moment in a Stanley Kubrick film? Perhaps there's a scene from Barry Lyndon, or one of Kubrick's earlier films, that we missed? Sound off on the comments below!
Nik's passions reside in writing, discussing and watching movies of all sorts. He also loves dogs, tennis, comics and stuff. He lives irresponsibly in Montreal and tweets random movie things @NikGrape.
