the depths of space and time while grappling
with the complexities of love, sacrifice, and humanity's survival.
Introduction
Plot Summary
Impressive Scenes
Review
Conclusion
Introduction
In a universe described as vast and monumental, 'Interstellar' stands out for its revolutionary depiction of space, featuring phenomena like wormholes, black holes, and planets where space-time is distorted. Released in 2014, it is hailed as a groundbreaking science fiction film that emphasizes paradoxically humanism through its portrayal of the cosmos.
Unlike typical sci-fi movies, 'Interstellar' also highlights themes of humanity and family. The portrayal of a father who ventures into space, diving into a black hole without any assurance of return, all to reveal the secrets of gravity to his daughter for the sake of their future, is a poignant sentiment rarely seen before on screen. Within the vastness portrayed in the film, such sentiments emerge as the grandest of human emotions, showcasing a power that transcends any space-time continuum.
Plot Summary
On Earth, plagued by famine and atmospheric pollution, the former NASA pilot Cooper lives with his father and children, farming to survive. Strange occurrences, such as objects falling in his daughter Murph's room, prompt Cooper to investigate gravitational anomalies that he previously dismissed as mere scientific curiosities. Discovering encoded coordinates in Murph's room, Cooper and Murph embark on a journey, leading them to the supposedly defunct NASA facility.
There, they find scientists, including Cooper's former boss Dr. Brand and his daughter Professor Brand, secretly planning a space mission. Years ago, a wormhole near Saturn appeared, allowing the Lazarus missions to explore potentially habitable planets. Three of these planets have sent promising signals, prompting a plan to rescue humanity.
Two potential plans emerge: Plan A involves evacuating humanity in space stations, while Plan B entails transporting genetic material to seed new colonies. Cooper, along with fellow pilot Doyle and two scientists, embarks on a mission to Saturn. Passing through the wormhole, they reach the closest planet.
The first planet, named Miller's Planet, orbits near a black hole, causing time to dilate significantly. Leaving Romilly aboard the Endurance spacecraft, Cooper and his team descend using a Ranger ship. They find the transmitter destroyed and face an approaching tidal wave. A disagreement over retrieving the transmitter results in Doyle's death and the loss of the Ranger. With the remaining ship damaged, they wait an hour before escaping the planet's surface.
Meanwhile, 17 years have passed on Earth. Romilly, who didn't enter hibernation, has aged significantly, now resembling a grandfather. On Earth, Cooper's daughter Murph has become a scientist working under Professor Brand to solve gravitational equations. These equations are crucial for Plan A, the plan to launch the NASA base into space to colonize a new planet. However, Murph discovers that Professor Brand had already solved the equations, but lacked essential data from inside the black hole, resulting in an incomplete solution. Furthermore, Professor Brand had never intended to pursue Plan A. Cooper's team learns this from Dr. Mann, encountered on the second planet.
With fuel insufficient to reach both remaining planets, Cooper and the crew must choose. Brand insists on visiting the more distant planet, where her lover resides. Cooper argues against making such an emotional decision based on scientific criteria.
This conflict highlights one of the film's central themes: the power of "love" as emphasized by Brand, beyond scientific explanation. This theme delves into the idea that there are forces in the universe beyond scientific comprehension, touching upon concepts like the "bulk," where human emotions or love may influence cosmic phenomena.
Ultimately, Cooper's superior knowledge as a more accomplished scientist leads the crew to the closer planet where Dr. Mann resides. Dr. Mann, a scientist sent years earlier to a seemingly uninhabitable planet, had falsified data to attract a rescue mission out of a primal instinct for survival.
Upon confrontation, Dr. Mann pushes Cooper off a cliff and explains his rationale, marking the film's second thematic element: the instinct for survival. This scene delves into the primal nature of survival instincts, challenging human morality and ethics in desperate situations.
Earlier, as the spacecraft launches, Professor Brand recites a poem urging resistance against accepting defeat. This notion of resilience against impending doom, whether Earth's demise or human mortality, underscores the strength of survival instincts, a theme deeply rooted in 20th-century existential philosophy.
Additionally, he discusses family with Cooper, invoking feelings of familial love amidst impending death. This aspect, intertwined with the first theme, delves into discussions about love and the power of the human heart.
Subsequently, using the stolen Ranger, Dr. Mann attempts to dock with the Endurance. Amidst chaos caused by a robot's self-destruct mechanism, Romilly loses his life, and the crew chases after Dr. Mann's lander. The Endurance sustains severe damage from the explosion.
Despite the perilous situation, the crew successfully docks with Dr. Mann's lander. The Endurance resumes its journey into space. However, lacking fuel to reach the final planet, Cooper initiates a daring maneuver using Gargantua's gravity, known as a "slingshot," a common trope in space movies, allowing them to reach the last planet with minimal fuel.
However, there arises a problem: to escape the black hole's gravity, one must become weightless. Cooper, harboring a faint hope of retrieving data from inside the black hole, deceives his daughter Brand and ventures into the black hole with the Ranger, lander, and the robot TARS. This part also reflects a theme of the film, namely, deception. Brand's daughter mentions a 90% trust threshold early on, suggesting that absolute honesty in relationships can be risky. Father Brand deceives about the truth of Plan A, Cooper's son deceives about his wife's health, Brand's daughter deceives about her lover's existence, and Cooper deceives about his own sacrifice. This stark contrast reflects the theme of human communication and lies intended by the director.
Entering the black hole, Cooper finds himself in a fifth-dimensional space created by future humans or extraterrestrials. This space is connected to Murph's bedroom bookshelf, and Cooper realizes that the anomalies occurring in Murph's room were caused by his future self and his love for his daughter. He then transmits the black hole data collected by TARS to Murph, using Morse code to convey a binary message.
Receiving the black hole data, Murph successfully solves the gravitational equations, allowing humanity to build vast space stations and manipulate gravity. Thus, humanity adapts to living in space, and Cooper, sent back near Saturn by extraterrestrials or future humans, is rescued by his daughter Murph. Due to the time dilation caused by the black hole slingshot, over 50 years have passed, and Murph is now over 120 years old. Cooper, facing the ironic reunion with his aged daughter, leaves behind the emotional encounter and sets out to find his daughter Brand on the last planet, towing a new Ranger. The film concludes as Cooper ventures off to reunite with Brand on the final planet.
Impressive Scenes
Throughout the film, I was awestruck by the majestic and grandeur depiction of space. While many films have portrayed outer space before, this movie, paradoxically, felt almost like a documentary, portraying the serene yet magnificent view of space without flashy computer graphics, direction, or dramatic background music. Watching the protagonist's spacecraft glide calmly through space, I felt as if I were there myself. The lack of elaborate effects paradoxically enhanced the visual appeal, giving a sense of realism as if one were truly venturing into space.
Watching the film this time was a different experience, even though it had been several years since its release. Perhaps it was due to the passage of time and my own aging, but the theme of family resonated more deeply. While initially focusing on the story of saving Earth and the struggles faced, this time, I found myself shedding tears during the scene where the daughter, now an adult, sends a video message to her absent father, blaming him for not coming back.
It may seem out of place for a sci-fi film about space exploration to be sentimental, but the blend was executed remarkably well. Furthermore, the use of time dilation, resulting in the protagonist encountering his aged daughter, adds a layer of depth that only a film with such a cosmic premise could achieve.
Some criticize this film from a scientific perspective, but every film, being a work of fiction, requires a degree of suspension of disbelief. Like many others, I acknowledge that there are undoubtedly nonsensical or erroneous scenes. However, endlessly critiquing such aspects would lead nowhere. Can one recall a film that boldly incorporated complex scientific concepts into its story, without merely glossing over or avoiding difficult and confusing scientific details? Furthermore, considering the effort put into realistically portraying these scientific elements and incorporating them into the narrative, I want to applaud the film wholeheartedly.
Review
As a fan of science fiction films, especially those set in space, watching "Interstellar" brought to mind "Gravity," a film I recently watched. While "Gravity" depicted space near Earth, "Interstellar" takes us beyond Mars and all the way to Saturn. Watching the journey of astronaut Cooper's spacecraft, I felt like I was on board, experiencing a fantastic voyage through the cosmos. Along the way, I couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of space.
The film's overwhelming visual effects take us beyond the solar system and into a new galaxy, setting it apart from any other movie I've seen. Christopher Nolan's incredible imagination, visualizing concepts like black holes, wormholes, and the fourth and fifth dimensions, is truly remarkable.
Christopher Nolan's films always transcend mere drama and venture into the realm of art. Watching his films over the past few years, I can't help but feel captivated by his work, reminiscent of my fascination with Spielberg in my childhood. Knowing that Nolan spent four years studying the theory of relativity for the screenplay and strived to depict it as realistically as possible without relying heavily on special effects further deepens my appreciation for his dedication as an artist.
While researching the theory of relativity in the past, Einstein might have imagined what the future holds for us. In "Interstellar," we witness a young father who witnesses the death of his daughter, who has aged significantly due to the effects of relativity. This portrayal perfectly encapsulates the theory of relativity. It was widely understood that the past influences the future, but this film demonstrates that the future can also send signals across spacetime to the past, ultimately saving humanity.
However, what caught my attention was the idea that the present is influenced by events that haven't yet occurred, creating a cyclical narrative where the future influences the past, shaping the present, and vice versa. It's a mind-bending concept. While the notion that the future influences the past is intriguing, the idea that the future me, who hasn't yet existed, could influence my past self was particularly fascinating.
The early scenes depict a world where relentless sandstorms have rendered Earth incapable of growing anything but corn. The unconventional directing choices effectively convey the hopelessness of a world devoid of hope. The characters' familiarity with the dust-laden environment, such as keeping cups and bowls overturned to prevent dust accumulation until mealtime, or clearing sand from vehicles before driving, left a lasting impression. While the foreshadowing of the daughter's name being Murph and the line "What's going to happen has already happened" were obvious clues, I didn't anticipate how they would tie into the overarching story. Initially, Cooper's logical and emotionally detached approach, coupled with his passion for space exploration, made him unlikable, but witnessing his struggle as he grappled with humanity's destiny also evoked sympathy.
The multidimensional characters and their nuanced actions, combined with immersive world-building, made for a compelling narrative. While science fiction and time-travel films often leave audiences feeling confused without proper explanation, "Interstellar" managed to keep me engaged and offered plenty of food for thought despite numerous viewings.
Even now, there are recent reviews and interpretations of this film on YouTube. It truly stands out as a masterpiece. This film may spark interest in other SF movies, breaking down barriers and encouraging viewers to explore similar themes such as wormholes and black holes beyond planetary settings.
Conclusion
Similar to "Gravity," this film also deals with the theme of survival, but it is infused with more emotion. While Nolan's films often have a somewhat dry quality, I believe this work is his most emotionally stirring. These emotions intensify as the film progresses, although the early parts and the journey into space may seem a bit dull and ordinary. In fact, I was slightly disappointed and bored during the early stages. However, as the story unfolds after passing through the wormhole and reaching each destination, the initially mundane events become increasingly dramatic.
While survival initially appeared to be the central theme of the film, the more I watched, the more I realized that it was about time itself. Ultimately, a new theme emerges that transcends mere survival, dominating the film's narrative.
