In the countdown to the 2022 Academy Awards on March 27, Our Today takes a look back at the top 10 films that made the cut for Best Picture. Today we focus on the film, Don’t Look Up.

Don’t Look Up tells the story of two low-level astronomers who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet Earth.

If you are yet to watch the film, prepare for some spoilers ahead.

A real Astronomer was involved

There have been many films that focus on the subject of medicine, physics or chemistry, and with convincing characters, audiences are left to think of fiction as fact.

In Don’t Look Up however, a real astronomer was involved and helped guide the team during production. Astronomer Amy Mainzer who investigates near-Earth objects at NASA, not only advised by helped craft certain scenes. Although the film thrived on a satirical and absurd stance, the scientific information character’s spewed was not necessarily nonsense.

Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays astronomer Dr Randall Mindy, worked extensively with Mainzer in an effort to get a better sense of the world of astronomy.

What happened in the End Credits?

Did you watch through the end credits? Well if you did, you would have realised that there was still one person alive on Earth.

After the comet hits Earth, during the end credits we see the White House covered in ash and rubble. As it appears that everyone on Earth has died, audiences see Jason Orlean, played by Jonah Hill, emerge, calling for his mother who has long forgotten him after her escape from the planet. How did he manage to survive, let alone escape from what appears to be heavy rubble…🤷‍♀️?

The son of the American President, who is played by Oscar winning actress Meryl Streep, realises that he might be the last man on Earth and immediately begins live streaming himself to non-existent followers. Calling for his mother multiple times, it appears that he might have been in denial that everything and everyone else left on the planet had been reduced to ash.

Why was Jason left behind?

As the film comes closer to its ending, we see that President Orlean forgets her son. Orlean abandons the White House and heads off to space to colonise a new planet, however, after a failed mission, her son is adamant she will return. Although realising mid-flight that her son is missing, she is very much unmoved, only concerned about her own safety and security.

As she didn’t care much for her country or Mindy’s and Kate Dibiasky’s initial warning, it should come as no surprise that she did not care for her son who was about to be annihilated by an approaching comet. The selfish president is an equally selfish mother.

‘Don’t Look Up’ characters reflect reality

If one pays close attention, a few of the characters mirror known people of the world. In addition to this, the movie, which was written with climate change in mind, reflects what the world has lived through for the past two years (COVID), except of course, the death of almost everyone.

As with the onset of COVID, in the Don’t Look Up universe, audiences see a society that lags in their reaction to real danger, more so caught up with the invaluable and fleeting things of the world.

In addition to this, the film shows a denial of scientific evidence from those without scientific background and political figures too caught up with their own happenings to actually save the lives of people.

One such example is President Orlean who, like former American President Donald Trump, engaged in nepotism and expresses senseless arguments. Wealthy CEOs such as Elon Musk are represented through Peter Isherwell, played by Mark Rylance.