Ticket information

“2001” will show at the Vashon Theatre at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 6. Admission is by donation to Vashon Film Society.

Last fall, Islander Jim Smith started thinking about the passage of time. It was the impending 40th anniversary of one of his favorite films, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” that made him wax philosophical.

“It puts everything in perspective,” said Smith. “How much things have changed in 40 years, but also how practically all of it came true.”

The 1968 film deals with themes of human evolution, technology and artificial intelligence in the form of HAL 9000, a computer with a soothing voice that masks the machine’s darker intentions.

Smith recalled seeing “2001” on its opening night at the Cinerama in Seattle and feeling struck by the film’s use of Richard Strauss’ iconic music “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”

“When they hit that double stop, and everything rumbles, the theater’s the only place huge enough to appreciate it,” said Smith.

Wanting Islanders to experience the landmark film the way he did, Smith approached Vashon Film Society (VFS) about holding a special 40th anniversary screening of the Stanley Kubrick film. The VFS board enthusiastically went forward with plans to show “2001: A Space Odyssey” on the exact date of its premiere 40 years ago.

The film was deemed culturally significant by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1991 and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Smith, known to many as the proprietor of the old Portage Store, said that seeing the film all these years later clearly shows how many social changes and technological advances imagined in 1968 by writer Arthur C. Clarke and filmmaker Kubrick have occurred.

“Everything has come to pass,” he said.