Save Humanity... or the One You Love? | Project Hail Mary | Story and Reflections

[00:02] no memory of who he is or how he got there. He discovers that he was in an induced coma, that the other two crew members have died, and that he is the only survivor. The computer identifies him as Dr. Grace and reveals that he is farther from

[00:16] Earth than any human being has ever been. As he tries to understand what happened, his memories begin to return. It all started years ago. Grace had a doctorate in molecular biology, but had left research to

[00:28] become a science teacher at a high school. In one of his classes he explained to his students the Petrova line, a line of infrared light between the Sun and Venus. There was something there that was slowly consuming the Sun's energy

[00:42] , which could cool the Earth by 10 to 15 grams in the following decades and cause a global catastrophe. Her students were alarmed, but Grace reassured them, saying that the best minds in the world were already working on

[00:55] a solution. One day, Evstrat, a member of Petroa's team, went to look for Grace. He showed her an article he had written years before in which he defended the unpopular idea that water was not essential for life.

[01:09] Ray explained that this stance had destroyed his career, but Strat replied that he was actually expelled for insulting the leading expert in his field and refusing to retract his statement. Then he asked her if she still believed that

[01:22] yes, at least on planets with conditions completely different from those on Earth. Strat asked Grace to analyze the samples brought from the thousands of people more qualified than him, but he ended up

[01:37] accepting out of curiosity. Upon studying them, he discovered that they were a cell. The first living being found outside of Earth, which they called an astrophage. He also discovered that his initial hypothesis was incorrect. The astrophage was

[01:50] composed almost entirely of water, but it was extraordinary. It survived on the surface of the sun, consuming enormous amounts of its energy and expelling it as infrared light to propel itself. It also traveled to Venus in search of

[02:04] carbon dioxide to reproduce. Strat told her that was enough and that there were on the problem, but Grace couldn't let it go. She reminded him that he himself qualified people. Grace replied that she was just being modest. Then Strat

[02:19] told him that he didn't need modesty, but someone capable of defending an idea when everyone else thought he was wrong. Race assured him he was the right person, and Strat ended up recruiting him. Then Strat took him

[02:32] to the rest of the team and revealed the Hale Mary project to him. Scientists had discovered that the sun was not the only star affected. Almost all the nearby stars were dying, except for one. Tauseti, almost 2 light-years away.

[02:47] For some reason, he was immune to the astrophage. The plan was to travel there and find out why. The fuel would be the astrophage itself, capable of storing so much energy that it could propel a spacecraft at speeds close to

[02:59] the speed of light. That's why they needed to learn how to raise it on a large scale. Strat also explained the cost of the mission to him. There would be enough fuel to get there, but not to get back. The three crew members, who would be a pilot, an engineer, and a scientist,

[03:13] would send their findings back to Earth in small probes and then die in checks the belongings of her companions, Commander Yao and Engineer Ilina. Although he doesn't remember, he dedicates a few words to them. He wishes they

[03:27] that he will do everything possible to complete the mission. Upon reaching Tausetti's orbit , Grace discovers that he is not alone. There is another ship near yours. He tries to get away, but the other ship follows him and sends him an object that turns out to be a

[03:42] representation of a star map. It indicates that it comes from a planet in the 40 system, Eridani. Then, Grace points to Earth to show where it came from and returns the object. Then, the alien connects both ships via

[03:58] a tunnel. Grace enters and encounters the alien who only shows her his hands and some figures that seem to represent both of them. Since he doesn't understand the message, he believes it's telling him to return to his ship and leaves. The

[04:10] alien reopens the tunnel and this time Grace manages to see it through a glass panel. It is a five-legged, rock spider-like, faceless creature that perceives the world through echolocation and breathes an

[04:23] ammonia atmosphere that would kill Grace, just as Earth's atmosphere would kill the alien. Grace decides to call him Rocky. Thanks to a figure that Rocky makes, Grace understands that her planet is also dying. The two have traveled

[04:36] to Tau Cetion and understand that if they want to save their worlds, they will first have to learn to communicate. Grace builds communication from scratch with a lot of effort. Listen to and catalog every sound Rocky makes,

[04:49] assign a meaning to them, and create a translation system with your computer. Rocky, on the other hand, since his biology is designed around sound and he possesses an extraordinary ability to recognize auditory patterns, understands

[05:03] Grace much faster. Grace discovers that Rocky is a brilliant mechanic capable of making almost anything with a material he calls something, Rocky puts on little puppet shows to

[05:16] explain it to her. Grace records a message for Earth telling all this and confesses [music] that she is starting to grow fond of Rocky. Then Rocky tells him he's glad he's not alone and tells him that he lost his 23

[05:30] crewmates. [music] Grace tells him about Yao and Ilina. Now it's just the two of them left, but together they will save stars. [music] Then Grace teaches him how to bump fists. Later, Rocky asks him, "What's a teacher doing in

[05:42] space?" Grace replies that she still doesn't remember how she got there. When Grace says she's going to sleep, Rocky insists on watching over him. He explains that in his species [of music] , while one sleeps, the other must remain awake because they become

[05:54] completely paralyzed and cannot wake up if danger arises. It's a rule of survival. Grace accepts and sleeps inside a capsule that protects him from Rocky's atmosphere. Grace keeps trying to remember how she ended up

[06:07] there. In the past, Strat introduces him to the three astronauts of the mission, Yao, Ilina and Dubis. In other words, Grace wasn't originally going to travel; her task had learned about the astrophage and the

[06:20] gyropropulsors. Grace said she admired his bravery, but confessed that he could never do something like that. He simply didn't have the gene for courage that they had. Yao replied that bravery was not a gene. All we had to do was find

[06:35] someone worth being brave for. There is no gene for being brave. You just have to find someone worth doing it for. Clearly the entire film, and especially Grace's arc, will revolve around that

[06:49] phrase. It's easy to see him as a coward, but I don't see him that way. I don't think Grace is a coward, but rather that she didn't find a strong reason to be brave, because she had already shown bravery before. I believe that writing an

[07:01] article defending an unpopular idea in front of the entire scientific community, knowing that it would cost him the rejection of his colleagues and even his career, was a brave act. Unlikely, I think the difference lies in the fact that there was a meaning

[07:15] that supported it. And here it is useful to remember Viktor Frank and his book that human beings are willing to suffer bravely, to sacrifice themselves voluntarily, provided that this suffering has a meaning.

[07:29] Meaningless suffering destroys us, while meaningful suffering we can bear. And that sense, according to Frankle, arises above all from the responsibility one feels towards two things. The first is the responsibility

[07:42] towards an unfinished work or task, and that is what explains the Grace of the aware of the difficulties, because he felt a responsibility towards the truth he believed he held in his hands. The work gave it meaning, and meaning

[07:57] gave it value. The second, and for Frank the most powerful, is the Frank the most powerful, is the responsibility towards another human being. We world. How many fathers and mothers are brave every day, facing

[08:10] obstacles that no one forces them to face, and willing to suffer for their children. couples who support each other, friends, families, or people who towards someone we love is

[08:23] probably the greatest force we have to do things we would never do alone. You can probably guess where I'm going with this. Grace had no one, he was alone in every sense, he had no family or friends. In his

[08:35] with him. Even as a teacher, his students changed every year. No bond lasted. Grace had no anchors, which is why she did n't initially offer to travel . Of course, a suicide mission is incredibly frightening, it's human to

[08:48] feel that way, but to voluntarily face that fear, as we said, you need a strong sense of purpose. And when the greatest risk of all is at stake, life itself may not have felt stronger than the

[09:00] responsibility towards another loved one. And Grace didn't have that. That's why I think his speeches about not being the most qualified are excuses more than anything else Strat that there were people more qualified than him, that he was being modest. Grace

[09:14] knows she is capable. What he lacks is a motive. I was just scared, very scared. And it's understandable because there was no one in his life for whom he felt bravely. If he had had someone, someone who cared about his

[09:27] well-being and for whom he felt the same, perhaps everything would be different. But Grace had no one until now. Currently, Rocky visits Grace's ship inside a sphere to survive in Earth's atmosphere. He explores the ship,

[09:40] fascinated by human technology, and even decides to move in with him. Grace tries to explain to him that he can't just show up unannounced or take up residence in her ship, but Rocky simply ignores the idea and chooses a room. In a recording,

[09:52] Grace says that she now has a roommate. Rocky is very bossy. His habits are completely different and he also has extraordinary hearing, so he never gives her a moment of privacy. He also recounts that he discovered

[10:06] that although Rocky is a genius at many things, his species was unaware of relativity and the effects of radiation. His entire crew died from radiation. Rocky survived only because the astrophage he stored next

[10:19] to his workshop protected him. But then Grace runs into a problem. If they cross the Petrova line for only a few seconds, they won't get a good sample because the system is also in motion. Rocky finds the solution by harnessing

[10:33] along with the Petrova line. Thus, Rocky proposes to orbit the planet where the astrophage is produced, collect a cannot infect Tausetti. While preparing for the mission, Grace shows

[10:46] Rocky pictures of the land, beaches, forests, snow, New York skyscrapers, and even the Rocky movies. When Grace asks him what he misses about home, Rocky replies that he misses his partner, with whom he has been for over 186

[11:01] years. Grace jokes that it's been quite a while, but Rocky replies, "It's not long enough." Grace then confesses that her last relationship ended because she said he had his head in the clouds and didn't want to live in the

[11:13] real world, and admits that she was right. The ship approaches Tausetti's planet and Rocky lets Grace christen him. Then he tells her the name of his partner, but there is no translation. It needs a human name. Grace suggests Adrian as the

[11:27] wife of the boxer Rocky, and Rocky finds him to be a beautiful man. Rocky's revelation that he has a partner and misses her, along with what he had said about his companions and the pain he felt at losing them, is extremely

[11:39] his species is also social. Heridians need to connect with others just like humans do. That's why Rocky was so excited when he met insistence on looking for him and then moving in with him, had been

[11:54] completely alone for a very long time. So we have two social beings, both marked by loneliness, meeting in the vastness of space. That's what makes the bond possible. But at the same time they are

[12:08] deeply incompatible, they communicate in opposite ways, they have completely different habits, and the atmosphere of one would kill the other. And I think that's a very nice detail because despite all those incompatibilities and

[12:21] all those risks, they have had to learn to communicate and trust each other to save their respective worlds. They take samples and upon life in Adrien. Then, they both understand the answer they were looking for. A

[12:34] microscopic predator feeds on the astrophage and keeps its population under star. If they can bring that organism home, both their worlds could be saved.

[12:46] The predator lives in the clouds, but the ship cannot enter the atmosphere. Rocky suggests lowering a collector attached to a long chain as if they were going fishing, and they both get ready. In the midst of it all, Rocky discovers something that Grace had

[12:58] hidden from him. There is not enough fuel to return to Earth. So when the mission is over, Grace will die in space. He tells her that he has already made peace with that idea. Meeting Rocky and experiencing all of this was enough.

[13:10] Rocky tries to find a word to describe someone who risks their life the computer [music]. Rocky tells him he can give him the astrophages he needs, even if it means delaying his return home and to his partner by 6 years

[13:24] . Grace tries to refuse the sacrifice, but Rocky insists. He watched his entire crew die [music] and could do nothing. This time he can prevent Grace from dying. With tears in her eyes, Grace accepts and hugs the

[13:37] capsule where Rocky is. Finally, they put into action the plan to collect Taumiva. They manage to recover the collector, but they get too close to the atmosphere and gravity begins to tear the ship apart. They are forced to

[13:50] jettison two damaged fuel tanks . In the process, Grace hits the controls, gets trapped, and loses consciousness before activating the second switch needed to save the ship. With no other option, Rocky

[14:03] risks his life and leaves his capsule, activates the switch, ejects the damaged compartments, and puts the ship to safety. He then rescues Grace by placing her on a ventilator and giving her an injection before collapsing. One

[14:17] might think that the bond between Rocky and Grace was born out of pure convenience. And it's true that there was some of that at the beginning . The knowledge and support of each one were indispensable to saving their respective planets. But notice

[14:29] how that relationship evolved into a true friendship and what made it grow. The friendship was built grow. The friendship was built each time one put something important in the

[14:41] other's hands and the other responded. True love, whether fraternal or romantic, manifests itself when someone trusts another to the point of making themselves vulnerable to them, knowing that the other could harm or

[14:54] fail them, and the other chooses to take care of them instead of taking advantage. In fact, that's what I the Heridians have to watch over each other while they sleep. They take care of each other in times of greatest vulnerability. How much good it would do us to bring that idea into

[15:09] our own lives, that when the other person is weak or vulnerable, instead of taking advantage of their fragility, we decide to take care of them. But there were two moments when the relationship between Grace and Rocky ceased to be utilitarian and

[15:21] became a true friendship. The first was when Rocky, without any fuel to return home, even knowing that it would delay his own return by 6 years. Six more years away from the

[15:35] partner he had been with for over 186 years. That decision, far from bringing him any benefit, cost him dearly, but he did it because Grace mattered to him now and the responsibility he felt towards him made that sacrifice

[15:50] powerful moment was when Rocky left his capsule to flip the switch and risked his own life to save Grace. In the book, Grace wonders, "Could he have let me die?

[16:03] In fact, he probably should have. Why risk his life and the entire mission for me?" And she's right. From a strictly rational standpoint, Rocky should have let him die and preserved the chance to save his planet

[16:17] instead of jeopardizing both their lives and the mission . But he did it anyway because that's what you do for someone you care about. Grace had become someone Rocky was worth being brave for.

[16:30] Back in the past, three days before launch, tragedy struck. A measurement error triggered an explosion caused by the astrophage, killing the captain's entire science team , including Dubis. With no one else

[16:44] mission, Strat turned to Grace, but Grace refused. He wasn't an astronaut, he wasn't a hero, and he didn't want to die. He didn't believe he was capable, and nothing would change his mind. Then Strat told him that what he

[16:56] was about to do was because he believed in him. He then forced him to surrender . The movie doesn't show it, but Strat Administer a special dose of a French interrogation drug, programmed to be

[17:10] released just before [music] awoke on the ship. This substance caused temporary retrograde amnesia intended to last several weeks. The idea was that by the time Grace regained her memories, she would be

[17:22] that she would decide to continue anyway. That's why Grace awoke with no memory of who she why she was there. Another thing the film overlooks is that knowledge wasn't the only requirement for participating in the

[17:37] mission. It was also necessary to possess an extremely rare genetic trait that allowed one to withstand induced comas for years, making it possible to survive the long interstellar journey without suffering brain damage or dying. Grace

[17:51] was one of the few people who met both conditions. That's why, when there were only three days left until launch and the team of scientists died in the explosion, she became virtually irreplaceable. There was no one else who

[18:04] necessary knowledge and that rare genetic variant. Grace wakes up to find Rocky dying inside his capsule and doesn't know how She wake him. While she waits, Grace experiments on the

[18:19] predator to make him resistant to the nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere, raising him in the xenonite tanks Rocky built. When Grace falls asleep, Rocky wakes up. Grace hugs him excitedly, and they both celebrate

[18:33] the predator's survival. After everything we've seen about how their , here we can see that Grace also changed after Rocky saved her life. Now it was Grace who cared for him,

[18:46] watching over him as he slept and protecting him in that moment of great vulnerability. At this point, we can say that for each of them, the other has ceased to be a become someone who matters in and of themselves. In fact, the more I think about it,

[18:59] the more it seems to me that the way Grace and Rocky built their bond is a great metaphor for how an authentic and meaningful relationship is built. I'm going to explain it in three stages. The first is that Grace and Rocky belong

[19:11] to different species, just as each person comes from a A different world. Everyone arrives with their own story, their fears, desires, tastes, and wounds. Approaching another person is always, in some way, approaching something a little

[19:25] alien. That's why Gracy and Rocky's first task was to learn to communicate from scratch. And there we have the second layer of the metaphor. Neither of them understood. They had to painstakingly and gradually build a way to

[19:39] translate what the other was saying. And the same is true with people. necessarily mean understanding each other. We have to translate what we feel inside, turn it into words or gestures that the other can receive, and at the same time

[19:54] strive to decipher theirs. And the third level, which is perhaps the most important, is that each person's atmosphere is lethal for the other, and yet they decide to approach each other, trusting that the other will take care of them. It's precisely what

[20:08] we were talking about regarding true love or brotherhood. To love is, in a sense, to dare to enter the other's atmosphere, where one is vulnerable, trusting that, having the power to take advantage of it, the Another will choose to

[20:21] take care of us. So, Grace and Rocky, two incompatible worlds who decided to translate, trust each other, and care for one another. A beautiful example of a stuffed animal from Earth so he won't forget it. Rocky replies that he'll never

[20:36] forget it, though he says he doesn't have a gift for him. Grace responds that she's already given him everything and only asks to see her ship. Then she puts on a suit, and Rocky shows it to her. Then comes the moment of parting. Rocky

[20:48] isn't so sure, and they joke around. Then Grace says, "Goodbye," but Rocky doesn't means they'll see each other again, but Rocky replies that it won't be like that. When he asks how they say goodbye on his planet, Rocky says they don't; they

[21:03] just make a gesture like rubbing their arm together. Finally, Grace returns to her ship. Each departs for home with half of the solution that could save their worlds. But during the return trip, Race discovers a

[21:15] fatal problem. The Taumiba Raised on xenonite, it has evolved to penetrate that material, and since Rocky's entire ship is made of xenonite, the predator will reach its fuel lines. Rocky will be stranded, without

[21:31] power, without life support, and condemned to die slowly from radiation. Grace then faces the most important decision of her life: continue on to Earth or turn back to save Rocky, and she decides to turn back. We arrive

[21:46] at the moment that, for me, perfectly closes Grace's arc . I don't know if you emphasize it, but there's a detail that I find very important. Grace had no reason to believe she could survive returning or on

[22:00] Rocky's planet. In other words, returning for Rocky was, in practice, accepting to give her life. And that was exactly the same sacrifice she had refused to make on Earth. What changed? What changed was that now she had someone to do it for.

[22:14] The sisterly love and responsibility she felt for Rocky finally gave her the motive she hadn't had before. And there's one last thing that I find beautiful, easy Rocky He had no obligation to give Grace the fuel to return

[22:29] home. He did it out of love, even though it cost him six years. But look at the irony: if Rocky hadn't made that decision, all that fuel would have been devoured by the Taumiba along with the rest of his ship, and Rocky would have

[22:41] died. So, ultimately, it was acts of brotherly love that saved them both and their worlds. And this is a great message of the film: the problems we truly face as a society, as a city,

[22:55] as a country, even as a species. None of them are solved by a single person working alone. None of them are solved with cooperation, trust, and brotherhood between people who, at first glance, seem to have very little

[23:08] reason to give it to each other. Before changing course, he sends all his save the planet back to Earth. In the last recording, he tells Strat that he was right. that she has a tattoo indicating she was in prison. Everything points to her having been

[23:24] convicted for the extremely aggressive measures she took to save... humanity and now lives as a fugitive. Then, Grace turns around and races back for her friend. She arrives just in time and saves him. Years later,

[23:37] Grace wakes up in a world that already feels like her own. She lives in Eril, inside a dome that allows her to breathe, and teaches a class full of young Heridians with Rocky by her side. Rocky tells her that Eric's scientists

[23:51] Hilale Mary to take him back home. Grace replies that she'll think about it. To finish, I want to address two things. First, Strat. Was what

[24:03] made Grace jealous and forced him against his will into a suicide mission justifiable? Here we have to separate two things that are easy to confuse. Just because the outcome was good doesn't automatically make the decision good. A

[24:17] reckless gamble that pays off is still reckless. So the question isn't whether it worked, but whether it was right to do it. Let's look at the arguments on both sides. In Strat's favor is, first, the magnitude of what was at stake.

[24:29] explosion that killed the scientific team just three days before launch revealed that he was the necessary knowledge and the indispensable genetic variant to complete the mission. If he didn't go, humanity would likely become extinct. In practical terms,

[24:44] the decision seemed to boil down to a single life versus the survival of the entire species. On the other hand, the problem is that no one has the right to dispose of another person's life without their consent. Autonomy is a

[24:56] boundary that, precisely because it protects the dignity of each individual, ceases to be a boundary if it can be crossed whenever someone believes there is a greater good. And there is a very important reason to defend that principle. We accept

[25:10] that an authority can sacrifice an individual when the calculation justifies it. Who decides what that calculation is and who will be the next to be sacrificed? What do you think? Was what Strat did right? Or let me leave you with

[25:22] another question. If you had been Strack with the whole world dying and done the same? And finally, I want to address the title because I think there's a very beautiful reflection there. Close the video. A Hale Mary in

[25:36] American football is that incredibly long, desperate pass thrown in the last second of a losing game, with almost no chance of success. The name comes from the Hail Mary prayer. You throw the ball and literally pray. And the

[25:49] entire mission plan was just that: a desperate throw with minimal odds of success. But a Hale Mary says something more about hope, because hope becomes most necessary precisely when all

[26:01] seems lost. Because when success is guaranteed, hope isn't necessary Hope only makes sense in the dark. Backlap Hel said that hope isn't the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that

[26:15] something has meaning no matter how it ends. It's not optimism, it's not betting that the ball will connect, but deciding to throw it anyway, because throwing it is worthwhile in itself. And that's what Grace did. She didn't go around for

[26:30] both survive on Erit. She had no reason to believe it. She went around because the very act of saving her friend made sense regardless of the outcome. Hope is the

[26:43] worthwhile, even when you can't be sure it is. And if you think about it, how many of the important things in life are, at their core, a "Hail Mary"? Starting over after losing everything. Taking a chance on a

[26:56] patch. Persisting with a project or pursuing a dream when the numbers say no. None of that comes with guarantees. If we only acted when success was assured, we'd almost never do anything. Living well requires, time and

[27:09] dark. And that's what I take away from it. Although an attempt doesn't need to be guaranteed to be worthwhile. Sometimes saving a world—yours, someone else's, or the one we share—begins with an act of hope, done without certainty or

[27:25] guarantees, but which you decide to do anyway because it makes sense to anyway because it makes sense to try. No.