“I Know Nothing About Ridley Scott”: This is a must-see movie to start with

If you’ve seen Napoleon, but it was your first Ridley Scott film and you want to delve further into his rich career, there’s a must-see feature film in my opinion, and that’s Alien, The Eighth Passenger, released in 1979. .

Why not another historical film like Kingdom of Heaven or an extended version of Gladiator? Because with Alien, you get a glimpse of what constitutes another important part of his filmography: his love of science fiction. We follow the crew of the Nostromo, who, after visiting a strange planet, find themselves threatened by a terrifying creature on board.

I must have been 14 or 15 when I first saw an alien, and I was particularly struck by the fact that so little of the creature was shown and the fear I experienced without understanding it. Don’t leave without another. That’s when I realized the movie was brilliant.

It’s perfect for entering Ridley Scott’s world because it’s great in its genre, finely crafted, and even… awe-inspiring. Three lessons that the film director gave us at the beginning of his career and which were reflected in his entire filmography.

Lesson #3 – Excellent in its genre(s).

Alien is perfect in its genres as it gives sci-fi fans what they came for, while also delivering the tension that thrill-seekers came to look for. This tension is the first level of the film’s reading, which emphasizes how panicked the crew is to shelter such a terrible creature that knows perfectly well how to hide in the depths of the ship.

Every time he tackles a new genre, Ridley Scott creates some truly solid films, even the classics of the genre. It will be the duelists or the last duel for the historical film, Gladiator For Peplum, Thelma and Louise in a dramatic thriller, 1492: Christopher Columbus for an adventure film, The Fall of the Black Falcon for a war film, or Lies of the State for a political thriller.

Lesson #2 – Finely Constructed

In order to get the studio’s final approval on the project, Ridley Scott scripted much of the footage, and it was these visuals that convinced Fox that he was the right man for the project. Scott is a conscientious prepper, covering his films from the oldest (The Duellists) to the latest (Alone on Mars, Alien: Covenant). This gives him a clear vision of what he wants, both in terms of staging and decor, every time. Here are examples of Alien :

In addition to this preparation, Scott wants to put the psychology of his characters at the center of the story, and for this he often takes a film version that the studio rejects because it is too long (Napoleon, Blade Runner, Kingdom of Heaven), but he takes the time to establish his characters and show the whole Their complexity and even their paradoxes (The Last Duel, Associates).

Looking at the construction of Alien, what stood out to me was the way the film opened. After introducing the spaceship from the outside to show us its isolation, the camera moves inside and shows the main locations where a good portion of the action will take place. The calm (before the storm) reigns. It’s only then that the characters slowly wake up from their hyper-sleep and we discover them, and I remember being quite taken aback by the awakening scene.

In just a few exchanges between these personalities, I remember being able to classify them into archetypes: greedy, cerebral, bossy, etc. It is enough to introduce us to seven people in record time and make us feel like we know them. A display of writing and directing that blew me away, variations of which can be found in the opening of Scott’s other films, such as Legend (the scene followed the introduction of the villain), Blade Runner (same) or Alone on Mars (decoration after the presentation of the team).

Lesson #1 – An Inspirational Movie

Alien is also the first time that Ridley Scott portrays the heroine, played here by Sigourney Weaver. Ellen Ripley was a role model for many little boys and girls with her courage, constitution and intelligence. In an effort to ensure that the Weyland-Yutani Company never falls under the alien pattern, it is the last defense against a resurgent threat by a company only interested in money and weapons. A modern heroine whose ideals resonated and still resonates with several generations.

If you go through some of Scott’s films, you will find many very well-written characters, such as Thelma and Louise, Jordan O’Neill from Equal Arms or Marguerite de Carouge in The Last Duel. With Alien, Ripley quickly became a pop culture icon, along with Maximus, Frank Lucas, and Deckard, other characters portrayed by Scott Camera.

Finally, I admire Alien’s ability to feed the imagination: thinking about what we can’t see, fearing what might come at any moment, jumping at the sound of a ship while predicting that it could be worse.

This lesson is also one that Scott implicitly addresses to all aspiring filmmakers: Don’t have the money for your film? Keep the concept simple and rely on the audience’s feelings rather than demonstration. Limit what we say to better control it. And scary, suggest rather than show.