I really enjoyed the film The Martian, because it reconciled scientific endeavors and the will of the people, as well as the government, to help others. All through the movie, we see examples of people who are willing to sacrifice something in their own lives for the well-being of someone else. The crew of astronauts, a more obvious example, was willing to risk a future in space travel; the possibility of government chargers; potentially even their own lives; for the chance at rescuing a colleague and friend.

Yet the movie was very idealistic in this respect. When accounting for all the resources that were allotted to the rescue efforts, it seems unlikely that such efforts would be put in place if this situation were actually to arise. A minimum of a few hundred thousand dollars were spent on putting together the rocket that was to transport the relief supplies, had they not exploded in mid air without leaving the atmosphere. These risks did not seem realistic to me. I doubt that such an investment would have, in reality, been jeopardized by the director of NASA for an earlier launching date. As for the rescue mission, it did not seem realistic to me that everyone would have been on board with dumping thousands of dollars in supplies on a deserted planet, and not bringing back anything from lab analysis back on Earth.

It was, nevertheless, a pleasant change of pace that this movie capitalized on the best and more selfless aspects of human nature when it comes to taking care of others, however unrealistically these intentions manifested themselves.