I watched Interstellar last weekend and I was promptly swept off my feet with the majesty of this movie. Space and space travel is undeniably awesome and to have it re imagined by Chris Nolan is just a spectacular treat for the eyes.
The mission of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), Brand (Anne Hathaway) and their team is to save humanity by looking for another habitable planet that the human race can move out to. The earth is suffering from one devastating blight after another and without saying much, Global Warming has reduced the earth into a dust bowl where only corn survives. In the movie, there is talk of wormholes, tesseracts, gravity, physics and singularities. I remembered all the handouts I read in STS when I was a Senior in UP. Space and time travel are undeniably very interesting topics but it has never been explored and presented as beautifully as in this movie. The effects are not overwhelming because there is still a sincerity to the treatment. The movie is a feast for the eyes but you never get tired of looking at it.
One thing that I never expected though was to cry throughout the movie. I was of course expecting a wonderfully crafted and thoughtful movie (it is Chris Nolan after all) but Interstellar also tugged at the heartstrings without being too emotional. However fantastic space and planet explorations are it is Cooper’s own struggle as a father who is making his way back to his kids which grounds this movie. It is in those moments where Cooper shows his side as a father that I felt the urgency of the mission. Cooper must succeed. Cooper must transcend. Cooper must return. But what will he return to? The void of the deep dark space is related so achingly with the void Cooper’s family has to deal with.
There is a scene in the movie when Cooper returned from a planet where he and Brand visited for only three hours. When they got back to their space station 23 years have already passed. Cooper sat in a chair and viewed 23 years worth of video messages from his family. That scene broke my heart. It was just a tight shot of McConaughey’s face all wet with tears. It was heartbreaking. The devastation felt by Cooper was so palpable.
I never am one to do movie reviews but I really just feel the need to share how beautiful Interstellar is because it impacted me most as mom. The movie’s premise may be extreme but just like Cooper, I would do anything to keep David and Noah safe and to ensure their future. As parents we’re pioneers and also navigators — we try to chart a course for their future that would allow them to be safe, secure and happy. We try our best to figure out the road ahead of us but in reality, our kids sometimes just need us to just stay and be with them and to live out our moments together.
There were a couple of very memorable lines on parenthood throughout the movie and I think I sobbed through all of them. I’m sharing a few of my favorites plus a line from a poem that was constantly recited throughout the movie. It’s one of my favorite poems too (so seeing it come to life in this film is so awesome)
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Brand: Couldn’t you’ve told her you were going to save the world?
Cooper: No. When you become a parent, one thing becomes really clear. And that’s that you want to make sure your children feel safe. You cannot go and say them that they are not safe and someone is going to save them.
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Brand: Love isn’t something we invented. It’s observable, powerful, it has to mean something… Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.
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Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Cooper: Once you’re a parent, you’re the ghost of your children’s future
Young Murph: Dad, why did you and mom name me after something that’s bad?.
Cooper: Well, we didn’t.
Young Murph: Murphy’s law?
Cooper: Murphy’s law doesn’t mean that something bad will happen. It means that whatever can happen, will happen.
P.S.
Also can I just say how awesome it is to see women scientists in this movie? It is such a great thing for young girls to see Murph and Brand (played so well by Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway) in a field that is dominated by men. And I say this because the recent Kim K gimmick (#breaktheinternet) as funny as the memes are is not doing anyone any favor except for Kim. Young girls need to see roles like these fleshed out in movies that yes we can be queens and models and scientists too!
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