Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” is a modern classic that is exquisite and emotionally compelling.
In the film, the slow, building consequence of climate change is that a mysterious blight is destroying all of the planet’s harvestable crops one by one (a premise that’s become even more unsettling and relevant in the eight years since the film’s release).
It’s as mind-bending and twisty as many of Nolan’s other epic films like “Tenet” or “Dunkirk,” but has at its core a straightforward, gripping tale of survival that we share as a species. It’s a rallying cry for science and imagination as our collective salvation.
Hand’s down my favourite Christopher Nolan movie of all time!!
10 A contemplative spirit
“Interstellar” is a comforting movie to watch, especially as the times we live in become more uncertain due to climate and health issues.
This film wears its faith in science to save us. From the initial conflict between Coop and his daughter’s teachers, who claim the moon landings were fake, to the triumphant ending, “Interstellar” is a tribute to the calm and curious exploration of the unknown.
The scene where Coop and Murph sit down and study the dust patterns is one of the best moments that capture this spirit heartwarmingly.
Coop’s father-in-law does make a sarcastic remark about him “praying to the dust,” but the stoic Coop remains undeterred. He reaches for Murph’s notebook, ready to collect data, test hypotheses, and conclude. This is the first step on his journey to save the world.
9“I love you forever”
Christopher Nolan’s movies are often criticized for lacking an emotional center, being a bit cold and calculated. However, “Interstellar” breaks this trend with the compelling and simple plot of a father-daughter relationship pulled apart by space and time.
The heartbreaking goodbye between Coop and his daughter Murph is a more enduring image than the grand IMAX shots of space.
Despite knowing the high stakes, it’s understandable that Murph struggles to put on a brave face about her father’s departure on a risky, potentially doomed mission.
Having children means putting faith in the world’s continued existence. Coop has to leave his children to save the world, but he promises his devastated daughter that he’ll return against all odds.
8“Passing through the wormhole”
The movie Interstellar uniquely depicts a standard science-fiction device—the wormhole unlike other films, which show wormholes as a two-dimensional portal or as one side of a tunnel-like formation floating in space, “Interstellar” offers a more accurate representation.
When the Endurance approaches the wormhole, it is a mesmerizing sight. At first glance, the wormhole looks like a solid sphere until you realize you’re seeing the galaxy on the other side reflected through it.
It’s a kaleidoscopic and fascinating moment as the characters prepare to leave behind our solar system and the familiar laws of physics.
The introduction of the wormhole, which is both incomprehensibly new yet also plausible and understandable within its logic, propels “Interstellar” into a realm of high, conceptual storytelling.
As Romilly explains using a visual aid, a hole in space that connects two different points in three dimensions would appear as a sphere, not just a flat circle.
7The emotional reawakening
The introduction of the famous Dr. Mann is quite emotional. After being referred to as “the best of us,” the heroic figure who inspired the Lazarus missions (played by the surprise-unbilled Matt Damon) suddenly starts to cry when Coop and the others wake him up.
You’d expect Dr. Mann to be a tough, experienced astronaut who would jump up and give an inspiring speech. Instead, his determination immediately breaks.
This is another touching moment that helps keep “Interstellar” grounded despite its grand mechanics. It’s also a worrying sign of what’s to come—Mann’s instinct for survival led him to make the false report and betray the others.
6Slingshotting around Gargantua
Gargantua, the immense black hole that causes all kinds of relativity issues, is one of the most visually stunning sights in the entire “Interstellar” film.
Much like the recently captured images of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, Gargantua appears as a donut of light surrounding a center of blackness.
As the Endurance spacecraft passes just outside the reach of Gargantua’s event horizon, the audience is treated to a prolonged, mesmerizing view of what the visual effects team imagined this scene would look like up close.
Streams of light can be seen flowing upwards and sideways as they become distorted and pulled into the black hole. The tiny silhouette of the Endurance also slips nicely closer to the immense gravity.
As the last two astronauts on board prepare for one final maneuver, they witness a dazzling light display that lasts only moments for them but stretches on for 51 years in the outside world.
5A three-dimensional representation of fifth-dimensional space
The most unique part of “Interstellar” is the tesseract, a space created by beings in the fifth dimension (possibly the future of humanity). This allows the main character, Coop, to send messages to his younger self and his daughter Murph in the past.
The tesseract is an intricate maze that resembles the wall of Murph’s childhood bedroom. It’s an endless construct that allows Coop to move through time by moving through space, though he initially loses his composure.
The tesseract ties together the various threads of “Interstellar”: the “ghost,” the quantum data from inside a black hole, and a father’s love for his daughter.
While the idea of “love as the strongest force in the universe” may be clichéd for some, the tesseract provides a stunning visual representation of how deeply “Interstellar” is committed to this theme – that love is a paradoxical, interdimensional force that will ultimately save humanity.
4One abrupt explosion for Mann
Dr. Mann’s attempt to take control of the Endurance ends suddenly when his lander explodes, damaging the spacecraft. Coop and Brand watch helplessly from another landing craft as the explosion rocks the Endurance, their only hope of continuing the mission.
This dramatic moment sets the stage for the tense “docking” sequence, where Coop must pilot the Endurance skillfully while it is damaged and drifting, matching its spin and docking with it to prevent it from being pulled into the planet’s atmosphere.
This is a high-stakes and heart-pounding sequence that tests Coop’s piloting abilities to the limit.
3The first handshake, for the second time
After all the complex events involving the tesseract, “Interstellar” has one final detail to explain. Coop travels back through the wormhole and turns out to be the mysterious “being” that Brand first encountered.
The wormhole must exist outside of time, which is why Coop can reach out to Brand at the beginning of her mission.
This also connects Coop to Brand immediately after he used her theory of love shaping destiny in the tesseract. Brand’s face, glowing ethereally, represents the hope she will carry forward alone on Edmund’s planet, in the face of the unknown.
The writing aims to be clear, concise, and conversational, using familiar vocabulary and varied sentence structures to sound more human-like.
2A very literal dust bowl
In the science-fiction movie “Interstellar,” the approach is somber and reflective as crops on Earth are dying out, and the planet is suffering from constant dust storms with extensive farmland burnt or unused.
Interestingly, the film incorporates footage from Ken Burns’ 2012 documentary “Dust Bowl,” featuring survivors of the dust-swept plains of Central America in the 1930s.
These reflective interviews are interspersed with the initial scenes depicting life on Earth during “Interstellar,” lending gravity to the narrative.
However, the presence of older adults reflecting on the events also hints at humanity’s fate, as their survival suggests the dire circumstances portrayed in the film.
1A reunion 90 years in the making
The fabulous Ellen Burstyn plays the elderly Murph at the film’s end. We realize only then that we met her at the very beginning, in documentary footage.
Hiring such a skilled actress for just a few lines in one scene might seem unnecessary, but this moment between Murph and her long-lost (yet still young) father gives “Interstellar” the powerful and emotional ending it needs.
In a single scene, Burstyn conveys the impression of a long and fulfilling life while also being the same stubborn little girl who refused to say goodbye to her dad.
Her insistence, right after getting Coop back, that he finds Brand instead of watching his daughter die may seem abrupt. But it rings true as a reflection of Murph’s lifelong commitment to the mission of finding a new home for humanity.
About Interstellar
Interstellar is a 2014 epic science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine, and Matt Damon.
Set in a dystopian future where humanity is embroiled in a catastrophic blight and famine, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for humankind.
Brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan wrote the screenplay, which had its origins in a script Jonathan developed in 2007 and was originally set to be directed by Steven Spielberg. Kip Thorne, a Caltech theoretical physicist was an executive producer, acted as a scientific consultant, and wrote a tie-in book, The Science of Interstellar.
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