Post on 2024/6/29

By Billy Song

"Interstellar" is a 2014 science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. With a budget of $165 million and a global box office of $701 million, the film caused quite a stir when it was released. With the passage of time, how does this film hold up from today’s perspective?

Known as a director who favors practical effects, Nolan once again showcases his exceptional filming techniques in this movie. Using Iceland as the location to shoot alien wastelands, planting 500 acres of corn for realistic scenes, and combining models with special effects to depict space, wormholes, and black holes—such cost-intensive effects and locations ultimately present a visual feast to the world. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kip Thorne provided scientific guidance, ensuring the film's scientific accuracy. However, the most impressive aspect of this film is not how scientifically accurate it is, but how it presents common sci-fi concepts like wormholes and alien colonization in its unique style. The best example is the protagonist Cooper entering a tesseract within a black hole, showing a three-dimensional representation of a five-dimensional world. Many directors and authors have previously showcased their visions of higher dimensions, but Nolan's depiction is among the best. Furthermore, Nolan excels at making complex physics understandable to every viewer. He achieves this by breaking down advanced physics concepts throughout the film, explaining only a small part at a time, blending physics seamlessly with the film to showcase the beauty and mystery of physics. Achieving this certainly lives up to the title of "science fiction film."

Beyond the impressive visuals, what truly makes this film stand out is the emotions and thoughts conveyed by the director. The entire film uses science as a framework, revolving around the theme of "love," driven by "choices." Cooper's paternal love for his daughter Murphy and Amelia's feelings for her lover play very important roles. It’s no exaggeration to say that love is the key to Cooper saving humanity in this movie. Without his paternal love, his daughter would not have remembered her childhood room in times of despair, and thus would not have received the critical data from her father. The element of "choice" is also central, emphasized through the repeated reference to the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night." The old professor spent the latter part of his life deceiving people, and Cooper’s son spent his life as a farmer; they both "went gentle into that good night." In contrast, Murphy, after discovering the professor's deception, resolutely returned to her childhood room to verify her small hope, and Cooper seized the last opportunity in the black hole to send out the data. They all chose to rage and burn against despair. This demonstrates that Nolan emphasizes the preciousness of human emotions and tells us never to lose hope and always fight against fate. Absolute rationality and advanced technology alone cannot solve all problems.

In conclusion, the reason this film received such high acclaim is because it breaks the mold. It presents and interprets common sci-fi elements in a unique way, adding a touch of human warmth to a genre often characterized by cold rationality and pessimism. This film is definitely worth watching—it captivates with stunning visuals, moves you with its plot and characters, and continues to leave a lasting impact after it ends. There are many intriguing details in the film, and what has been mentioned here is just a very superficial part of it. Finally, I’ll leave you with some lines from the poem that appears in the movie. After watching the film, read them again, and they will certainly give you a deeper understanding of the film.