Netflix‘s Spanish sci-fi film Orbiter 9 (Spanish: Órbita 9) follows a young woman Helena (Clara Lago), who is alone in a spaceship spending 20 years of her life from the day of her birth. Assigned with some secret mission by some unknown agency, her parents abandoned the ship, as a technical malfunction left them with no choice but to let their child survive and complete the mission alone.
Helena, as per the mission, believes the fact that she is traveling from earth to a distant planet where she could meet other space colonials. With no knowledge of the outside world from her childhood, she for the first time meets a man named Alex, who enters the spaceship to repair one of the life-support systems.
They both fall in love with each other and Alex after leaving the spaceship decides to tell the truth behind the experiment. Helena soon learns from Alex that the reality of her life is not what she has been believing for a long. She is actually not in space, but rather inside a simulator designed to study the effects on the human body of prolonged space travel. And she is, in fact, an offering from her parents to this secret experiment for the future of mankind.
Orbiter 9 initially introduces us to great possibilities from the point of view of science fiction but is somehow lost in execution by bringing in too many things. While I admire every director or filmmaker with original concepts and ideas, this sci-fi film limits itself to the romantic relationship between Helena and Alex.
There is not a huge amount of effort put into characterization. Orbiter 9 has decent actors – in fact, good acting by its lead characters. However, the script is a mixture of too many things without any definite point or purpose. Amid a few plot twists, we see elements of science fiction, a love story (even that too never builds up), and questions of morality, and self-interest.
I watched this movie with subtitles, but that was not a problem for me to grasp the key points. The suspense was out very soon, so the film kind of tried to engage you with a few twists to understand the motives behind whatever happening on screen. Nevertheless, you might give this a try for some good ideas on the surface level and good performance by its cast.
Starring: Clara Lago, Alex Gonzalez, Andrés Parra
Genres: International Films, Spanish Films, Dramas, Thrillers, Sci-Fi Thrillers, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Director/Writer: Hatem Khraiche
Cinematography: Pau Esteve
Language: Spanish
Release Date: April 7, 2017
ORBITER 9 IS NOW STREAMING ON NETFLIX.
Watch the Movie Trailer – Orbiter 9
Where to watch Orbiter 9 (2017)
