“Across
the Stars”
A Review of Interstellar by Nick Olszyk
MPAA Rating, PG-13
 |
| Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway in Interstellar |
USCCB Rating, A-III
Reel Rating, Three Reels
The
first images of Christopher Nolan’s space opera Interstellar happens not in the future but the past, so we think.
Several elderly people are interviewed talking about failing crops, swirling
storms of dirt, and rampant disease. It appears they are remembering the Dust
Bowl of the 1930s, but soon it is revealed they are looking back at the not so
distant future. Several generations forward, climate change has made the Earth
virtually uninhabitable with rampant blight and fierce weather. Nolan’s goal is
clear; humanity is repeating its mistakes, but this time, it will be permanent.
The only hope is finding another Earth. “We were never meant to save the
world,” one scientist remarks. “We were meant to leave it.” Interstellar then takes the audience on
a worldwind tour of the Universe as a small group of astronauts combs the
galaxies for a new home. Beyond the spectacular visuals, there is a really
important message hidden inside this space extravaganza, but it’s severely hurt
by an unwavering commitment to scientism. Nolan has faith in the stars, but his
faith in humanity is less certain
Cooper
(Matthew McConaughey) is a former astronaut, now small town farmer, who fosters
in his children a love of experimentation and ingenuity to solve problems. He
is met with resistance by their public school teachers who have rewritten
textbooks to demonstrate the Moon landing was a hoax and discourage scientific
advancement. “The world needs farmers, not engineers,” one tells him. One
afternoon, Cooper’s daughter Murph (Jessica Chastain) discovers her bookcase
sending strange messages. Cooper uses these messages to locate a secret NASA
facility and meets his former teacher, Prof. Brand (Nolan regular Michael
Caine) who reveals a startling plan. Forty-six years prior, NASA discovered a
wormhole to another solar system that contains several Earth-like planets. He
believes there are beings that use gravity as a form of communication inviting people
to settle these worlds. Despite being out of the field for years, Brand invites
Cooper to lead this mission; due to relativity, he will not return for many
decades, possibly never. While his son and father-in-law are understanding, his
daughter does not want him to leave, but he goes anyway, promising to return.
Cooper and his team will spend the next two and half hours skipping around
planets looking for a suitable environment. This mission will test each other
as they try to save humanity or at least what’s left of it.
Interstellar advocates a largely
scientist view, the idea that scientific knowledge, not God or religious faith,
provides the answers to life and humanity’s greatest hope. Religion is never
mentioned even once, even as a criticism. Nolan’s world devoid of it, like Star Trek. This is best illustrated in
the two plans Brand creates for the mission. Plan A involves Cooper finding a
habitable planet, returning, and leading other ships through the wormhole. If
he is unable to return, Plan B goes into effect. Brand has stored racks of
frozen embryos onboard that will can be brought to term and raised as a new
civilization. This is inherently evil and grotesquely disturbing, imprisoning
thousands of souls that will be killed if not “used,” yet the film takes not
even a second to consider the vast ethical implications, undermining anything
constructive Interstellar may have to
say about human nature or morality.
Yet
for all these problems, Nolan recognizes there are some things science can’t
do. Millions of light years away, Cooper discovers that Plan B was always the
intention; Brand created Plan A as a means to convince Cooper to cooperate.
There is also a villain awaiting Cooper across the stars that demonstrates how
technology is always at the mercy of human cruelty. Both of these people
embrace a scientist attitude but are ultimately viewed negatively. Rather, it
is the love that Cooper has for Murph that drives him on and transcends the
Universe when intelligence cannot. He will not leave humanity behind and fights
to keep his promise.
As
a piece of science fiction, Interstellar
is impressive. While a significantly weaker film than last year’s Gravity, its creative effects pack a
wallop. There are many incredible scenes like going through a wormhole, making
an emergency dock, and getting caught in the gravitational pull of a black
hole. The loud sound effects raddling the theater are as close to a real space
takeoff as most people will get. There are many nods to previous sci-fi films,
especially the crew’s helpful robots TARS and CASE, which look like the
monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In a field of over dramatic actors reaching just a little too far for late
November Oscar gold, they are probably the best characters in the film,
sarcastic and gruff, wishing to get the mission over with so they can have a
cold beer. There is also an “alien” element that guides Cooper’s path and
becomes progressively weirder and weirder. These beings are a fun idea but
quickly disintegrate under scrutiny.
Interstellar
is a spectacular film but suffers greatly from valuing some aspects of human
life while devaluing others and puts the material world on way too high of a
pedestal. Science truly is beautiful, an important endeavor that is worth our
wonder, energy, and tax dollars, but is a means to an end, not an end itself.
All human effort requires the moral compass that religion provides. After all,
God wrote the laws of the Universe, both thermodynamics and the Ten
Commandments. They are overlapping magesteria, meant to exist in perfect
harmony. In the back of his mind, Christopher Nolan understands this to a
degree, but he’s too caught up in the philosophical fad of this age to admit
it.
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