The other Nolan movie

I had never watched Interstellar before. This 2014 Nolan movie has been on my watch list for ages. It has an 8.7/10 on IMDb and I know it’s many people’s favorite. I finally watched it and was, in a nutshell, not impressed.

So, the positive parts: The movie is incredibly engaging. It’s almost three hours long and it doesn’t feel like it. There wasn’t any moment when I thought: “is this movie going to end or not?” Which sometimes happens in long movies.

Interstellar has amazing visuals and action scenes. You are always entertained. And the story and premise is interesting: What if we could explore space and find another home? The movie makes you feel like you’re on an adventure. Something lacking in modern movies.

But I have many issues with it.

The first issue I have, is the message and philosophy it portrays and defends.

Interstellar is basically what Elon Musk and all other techno-bros defend: climate change is impossible to stop, and the only solution is for humanity to leave and escape to space. Which makes me think that maybe he got the idea from this movie, being such a basic b*tch he is.

Also, this:

Like, what?

Is that your life motto? That we should not take care of each other or the planet? Care is for pussies?

Of course that is his motto. After all, what kind of father leaves his young kids to go on a suicide mission where they will never know if he is alive or not? And will live forever in doubt.

Now, does the fact that McConaughey’s Cooper doesn’t care about his children, wants to be a space cowboy and save humanity, make it a bad movie? Not really. I don’t think main characters should all be completely perfect and not selfish. Actually that makes them more interesting.

It’s just that the movie presents Cooper as being morally virtuous, when in reality he just wants to escape his life. I’m more annoyed at how he is presented as heroic than by the fact that he is like this. And how by extension, the movie turns this whole cynical, individualistic and doomerist view of the world into a positive trait.

It’s a common trope in movies about world-ending calamities, such as the planet freezing over, a meteor hitting the planet or aliens invading, to show only what is happening in the US as if that represents the whole planet.

Interstellar does exactly the same. Is everywhere else dusty and unproductive like the US? Maybe other countries are doing fine, producing food and living comfortable lives. Who knows?

Maybe other countries are more focused on caretaking and actually care about the world and the people?

(I mean probably not, because then they would just get invaded like in real life.)

Not only does the catastrophe occur in the US, but in these older movies the US is also always shown as our only and greatest savior, that let’s be honest, has aged like vinegar. US righteousness, power, technological knowledge and leadership are always exalted in these movies. That's not exactly how anyone feels at the moment.

The US government will save humanity? Yeah, right.

Nolan is quite famous for his movie plot holes, but in Interstellar it is like he has no idea how science works and hopes no one knows about it either.

To start, how can someone take 40 years to solve an equation? And why is an equation necessary for this story anyway? What they really need is a giant spaceship or many giant spaceships to take the people to the new planet they found. That’s all.

They just need a way to travel. They can travel in the same way Cooper, the main character, did. Using the random magic space wormhole opened by “unknown forces”. Right?

But let’s say the world works like this, the wormhole closed, and they are waiting for this guy to answer the equation. No one else on the whole team can solve the equation? Not even the real-smart daughter played by Jessica Chastain? No one else asked themselves in 40 years, why do we even need this equation for? That what they really needed was a way to solve quantum mechanics?

Makes NO SENSE.

There’s this very cool scene where Cooper is in a black hole. It has now become apparent to him that he is the ghost from his daughter’s childhood and that he was trying to communicate with her through the books. Time and space are blended inside the black hole and we come full circle in the story, which is always pleasant. And that’s probably why everyone loves this movie.

But how can he explain how singularity works through Morse code? What the hell does he do to leave a black hole? Why is this robot designed in the least efficient possible way with no aerodynamics whatsoever?

Also, what kind of sister sets her brother’s plantation on fire (in a starving world)?

So many questions. No good answers.

Cooper somehow escapes the black hole and finally meets his daughter again. After spending about two minutes with her, he doesn’t even greet any of his family members, doesn’t ask about his son, and just walks away to play Adam and Eve. Such an awful guy, seriously.

If there was a sequel to this movie, I bet that once he is on the new planet, he would leave Ann Heathaway to care for his kids and the whole mission while he roams around the planet exploring.

And we as humanity, are supposed to be happy that our future will be two white Americans on a new planet? One of them being someone who hates caretaking?

Great. Sign me up.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Now, this book makes space traveling, even with a lot of “magical” assumptions, believable. It takes a lot of room to explain the science behind it (sometimes even too much), and to make the author’s decisions logical.

It’s also fun and action-packed like Interstellar, but it’s much more uplifting. It shows a world where collaboration is the most important part of being a human and solving any issue. Quite the opposite view of Interstellar.

In Project Hail Mary, when Ryland Grace awakens, he has absolutely no idea where or who he is. Then, slowly, his memory returns: Grace is thousands of kilometers from Earth, on a tiny spaceship at full speed into the unfathomable depths of space. He is the sole survivor of a desperate mission to save the planet.

Gravity (2013)

Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), an engineer on her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.

Now, this movie is also visually stunning and set in space. It is also very nerve-wrecking, but much more believable than Interstellar. Finally, I would say Sandra Bullock has very little luck with buses, spaceships and other means of transport.

The Silo (Apple+)

Now on its third season, The Silo is about a population of humans that lives in an underground silo. Its residents don’t know how long they have been there or what has happened outside. They are ruled by strict laws and law enforcement. Still, from time to time, a few will start questioning why they have to live like that.

Adapted from Hugh Howey’s Silo trilogy novels, it is a very well produced and gripping TV show. It discusses how information and truth should be handled in societies, especially in difficult circumstances. It also discusses if the silo population’s survival is worth hiding the truth, manipulating and acting oppressively. It is also much more than that, addressing relevant modern issues such as worker’s oppression, justice, power and much more.

Season three has been a bit of drag so far, but the first two are worth watching.