Review of the film ‘Isaac Asimov, A Message to the Future’ (2022)

Isaac Asimov is a writer, born in Russia in 1920 and moved in to the United States as a child, where he develops his writing career in English language up to the end of his life in 1992. He is one of the most prolific writers in History, writing over 500 books that deal with Science, History, and above all Science-Fiction, for which he is mainly remembered.

French director Mathias Théry has dedicated to this relevant figure a documentary titled ‘Isaac Asimov, A Message to the Future’, containing many excerpts from USA’s TV programs in English featuring the writer, and then others parts in English as well. The French version, titled ‘Isaac Asimov, l'étrange testament du père des robots’ (Isaac Asimov, the strange testament of the father of the robots) has the only difference of adding subtitles in French.

A clarification is needed concerning the French title ‘Father of the robots’. Asimov was not the first writer that conceived the appearance of robots (that would be Karel Capek) nor the inventor that created the first robot, but he was definitely the writer that explored the possibilities of robots in fiction to their fullest potential, and that created the now famous ‘The three laws of robotics’.

The documentary begins with an anonymous person introducing a VHS tape into a player, that plays the tape to reveal Isaac Asimov addressing the audience in the 21^st century. This message is complemented with descriptions from the narrator and excerpts from interviews in the TV from USA, and is, of course, revealed to be an IA-powered rhetorical trick. The words are Asimov’s, but not so the image and the voice. The purpose of it is to introduce Asimov to today’s audiences, summarizing his life and works.

From someone who has read thousands of pages from Asimov: yes, this is an adequate, excellent 54-minute introduction to Asimov and his most famous writings. 4 out of 5.

Title:	Isaac Asimov, A Message to the Future
Genre:	Documentary
Year:	2022
Nationality:	France, Sweden
Colour:	Colour
Director:	Mathias Théry
Running time:	54 minutes
Language:	English