nterstellar. A phenomenon of a film. I was nailed to my seat by the sheer force of the scope of the story; the images of a dust-dry Earth; and the awe-soaked imagery of a warped space and time. Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack swirling around the cinema was as much a character in the film as anything on two legs, and drew us in as strongly as any gravity pull from the black-holes so awe-inspiringly displayed on screen for us.But still the humans and our infinitely wondrously intertwined relationships carried the heart of this film in the bonds between fathers and daughters; the twists and the drama all bound up in the dream-like state induced by playing with relativity, quantum physics and a tale of love.
It’s a film to make you think, to make you fear, make you cry and make you hope. Anger too, at the futility of our politicians and the capitalistic destroyers of our planet. NASA is reduced to hiding in an underground secret site, and the text books are rewritten to explain away the Apollo missions to the moon as a hoax. My son laid his hand on my arm when he sensed the growl in my throat.
It’s a film about the fear of the human race being dragged down by the smallness of petty minds, yet still with the hope and ambition of dreamers to take us beyond.But the grandness and glory of the universe out there waiting for us to explore are presented majestically for us on screen: how can anyone not want to find out what’s out there.
If this film doesn’t make you think of all these issues because of the way Nolan tells the story through his main characters of father and daughter then you have no heart, no brain and no soul. You deserve the dusty Earth.
Interstellar is a story of science and love and hope; It raises you to think beyond our limited horizons, while still embracing our vulnerabilities.
The legacy of 2001: a Space Odyssey.
I don’t like to read too much about a book or a film before I read or see it – I like to make up my own mind. I did hear that Christopher Nolan thought 2001 was his favourite film and was very much part of his making of Interstellar.
I saw 2001 when it came out in 1968 when I was 8 years old, and the film and the writings of Arthur C Clarke have stayed with me all my life. Now I feel Interstellar is the companion film to 2001. There were many allusions to 2001 in this film, some subtle, some overt, which for the sake of anyone who is yet to see Interstellar I won’t go into here. For me, that enriched the watching, and the resonances made the film even stronger.And now to order the soundtrack…
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