Raist (Re-)Visits 3: Interstellar, American movie (2014)

Our planet Earth is a beautiful place. Too bad us humans often treat her so badly. Pollution, wars, extinction of species, are just a few of the things humanity excells at. The funny thing is, we are not even keeping it confined to our own planet. With us reaching for the stars, we have also made a mess of outer space, with debris floating in a ring about the Earth. It’s not a good prospect for the future, as eventually if we are to survive as a species, we will have to abandon our home planet. What’s that you say? Well, in case you have forgotten, the sun in our solar system will eventually die out. When that happens, this entire solar system will cease to be, and it will all be game over. Not to worry though, that’s not going to happen in the next 100 million years, but I have often wondered about how things will look that far into the future. Will we have found a solution to that problem? Or is it really going to be humanity’s dusk? Space exploration right now is in it’s infancy. Sure, we went to the moon and all, but that’s not going to help us much. If things ever become so bad as in the movie I am about to start reviewing, one can only hope we have a couple of brave men and women that are able to find us a new home.

Now what do we have here? A new coffee machine?

In 2067 humanity is in big, big trouble. There is a massive food shortage because blight is causing most of the Earth’s crops to go bad, with corn the only viable one that remains. But that’s not the only problem, as massive dust storms make life miserable and hard for the remaining people that are left on the planet. Thus it comes as no surprise that farmer is pretty much the most important profession now, and so it is for former NASA test pilot Joseph Cooper. Together with his young daughter Murphy, his son Tom and his father in law Donald, he tries to make the best of the situation in a world that is also being fed half truths. For instance children at school are taught that the Apollo missions were a lie, mere propaganda at the time. After a very severe dust storm something strange occurs in Murphy’s bedroom. A weird pattern has inexplicably emerged on the ground by dust particles, something that Coopers daughter says is caused by a ghost. Joseph eventually discovers that the patterns are in a binary code and actually are coordinates. Late at night he goes out in his truck to find out what’s at the location of those coordinates, together with his daughter who has snuck on board.

Surfing in the future is a little bit different than what we are used to.

Eventually they arrive at a secret Nasa facility that is headed by the mysterious doctor Brand. Once inside, Cooper get to hear a very dire message. The Earth is dying, and his daughter’s generation will probably be the last one, as humanity will become extinct. There is hope however. Near Saturn a wormhole has been found that allows travel to a galaxy that contains planets situated near a black hole  that may be capable of sustaining life. The wormhole has been placed there by beings unknown. For the past few years, the scientists at the base have been working on two plans to ensure humanities survival. One of these plans involves following in the footsteps of twelve brave volunteers that have travelled through the wormhole. Three of them reported the possibility that their planet could be the next Earth. A ship has been made ready to take 5000 frozen human embryos through the wormhole and start a colony at that new Earth. Cooper becomes the pilot for that ship, and together with a brave crew he prepares for his mission. His daughter however is heartbroken, and doesn’t want him to go. Time is running out for everyone though, and this time it really might be the twilight of the human race…..

Come on, you are too young to own your own car, you know that right?

This movie directed by the acclaimed Cristopher Nolan is a work of art. I could write 10 posts about it, and not even scratch the surface of why I love this movie so much. Obviously I’m not going to do that, so I guess I have just this single post to at least explain it a little. At the heart of his movie is the father and daughter relationship. Cooper played to perfection by Matthew McConaughey is a father who will do anything for his daughter, including sacrificing his life. The young Murphy is initially furious with her father for leaving her. It’s a heartbreaking moment in the film, made all the more intense by the fact that it’s by no means certain that they might ever meet again. Over the course of the film, because of the time differences cause by the black hole, Murphy grows up, while Cooper still looks as old as in the beginning of the film. The older Murphy, a role performed by the amazing Jessica Chastain is still angry with her father, while at the same time she is working with professor Brand on a solution to save the remaining people of Earth. Michael Cain portrays the gentle professor, and becomes kind of a surrogate father to her, a relationship that is honestly quite sad.

I’ve heard of people having stinky feet, but to jump off a cliff because of that is a bit extreme right?

Sad because we as an audience know of the incredible sacrifice that Cooper is making all in order to try and save his daughter and all of humanity. Every role in this movie is for lack of a better term stellar. It’s a phenomenal cast that Nolan has put together here, and every part, no matter how small it is, has each actor or actress performing at their best. It’s also a movie where the story is, as with most of Nolan’s films, not one that’s easy to follow. At certain moments in the movie there is a lot of techno babble that one can not always make sense of. That said, while that is certainly true, it by no means robs you of the sense of awe you will feel when a twist comes near the end of the film. It’s one of those jaw dropping moments that you don’t see coming in any way. Another very important element of this movie is the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer that fuels this movie. It’s a breathtaking score that fits every scene perfectly. Interstellar is a journey, and one that I intend to make many more times. Action packed, with terrific performances, but above all an emotional story that simply tucks at your heartstrings, this is a movie that proves that now matter how bleak things might look, one must never lose faith or hope. And in these uncertain times that’s one heck of a good thing to remember.

I give Interstellar a 9 out of 10 score.

A poster that is as beautiful as this movie!