Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) is one of the leading figures of 20th century science fiction.
With Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick, this American author contributed to making this literary genre a vast field of imagination, capable of clearing the future of humanity, to warn man about his potential extinction. .
With his big black rimmed glasses, his white sideburns that ate his cheeks and his shiny medallion as a tie, Asimov was the very type of the scientific writer who will have played the visionary prophets, while infusing humor into his novels.
In
Isaac Asimov, the strange testament of the father of robots
, a fascinating new documentary, director Mathias Théry pays him a magnificent tribute.
Time capsule
At the beginning of the film, he installs the viewer in the office of the creator of
I, Robot
, around an eclectic bookcase and a series of shoeboxes.
Two hands filmed in a subjective camera grab hold of one of them.
Inside this box, we discover a jumble of old science fiction novels with colorful covers, a microscope, a compass, an automaton robot toy, a pencil sharpener in the shape of a miniature planisphere, a calculator, a action figure, a silver pistol, and an old VHS tape.
From this video cassette swallowed by an ancient video recorder then emerges the face of Isaac Asimov.
The Russian-born novelist born in January 1920 in Petrovichy, Russia, speaks learnedly in what we quickly understand to be a time capsule, an exciting testamentary message addressed to the humans of the future.
"Hello, my name is Isaac Asimov,
" he said.
I was born in 1920. By the time you hear this message, I will be long dead.
You, humans of the 21st century, the humans of tomorrow, you have been the main concern of my life.
If I wanted to defy time to convey this message to you, it is because I am convinced that science fiction can help humanity.
It conceals powers that are more than ever necessary for the survival of the species.
»
At the heart of his work
For almost an hour, the documentary gives the master the floor through a voice-over speaking in the first person.
The process is clever.
Just like the various elements of the shoebox which will in turn serve to deepen the thought of this great visionary novelist.
All this in a fun way.
By selecting numerous excerpts from American television programmes, judiciously chosen archives or interviews with Isaac Asimov, the film plunges back into the heart of his work.
Asimov considers
Frankenstein
to be the first modern science fiction book.
Published in 1818, it depicts a scientist who creates life from electricity.
Which brings him closer to God.
But the creature rebels.
This is the beginning of mad scientists, what Asimov baptizes
"the Frankenstein complex"
, a theme that depicts an arrogant humanity eager to put on the mantle of the divine through misguided science.
With his Foundation
trilogy
, where he develops a new science, "psycho-history", or with his works on robots, Asimov spends his time prophesying the future of humanity.
By establishing the three laws of robotics, he does useful work for all scientists, past and present.
He predicts the advent of computers and artificial intelligence and wants us to understand that
“we cannot afford to waste financial and emotional resources in endless meaningless conflicts”.
To meditate.