Intersteller: Nolan's Time and Space Defying Poetry

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2014)

"Time is relative. It can stretch and it can squeeze but it can't, it Can't run backwards"
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar is a spell-binding poetry of scientific imagination, human drama and visionary art. In terms of all the Nolanesque special-effects, action-sequences, unexpected twists, scientific complexities and wholesome story-telling it falls in its pattern, but it's the scope and depth of the movie that grips you. Despite the amalgamation of wickedly aesthetic imageries with visionary fiction, the sci-thriller roller-coaster manages to leave you with some intense human-intercourse and some immortal dialogues. The unique moment of a leading astro-physicist's realization of the fact that despite humanity's internalization of modern scientific miracles – one of the few things that've eluded comprehension for them is Love. And the force and full-potential of it is still unknown. And it is that which still gives humanity hope. "Love is the one thing we have that's capable of transcending time and space." Of the acute moment of Amelia Brand's realization that the one person amidst a plethora of galaxies and human souls is someone whose state of existence across layers of time and space, is something she does not know! Or the moment when Professor Brand tells the middle-aged Murphy: "I'm not afraid of death.As an old physicist I'm afraid of time." Or in the crescendo towards the Matt Damon twist on the snowy terrain of Mann when Damon elucidates survival instinct: "The yearning to be with other people is powerful.That is what makes us human." More poignant lines have barely ever been spoken. It takes you back to Cuaron's Gravity, not just with it's fascinating inter-galactic landscapes but also in the moments of profound isolation and beauty, that two drifting astronauts encounter in space. Poetry – somewhat oxy-moronic with the characteristic of such a movie – becomes the ultimate resonance that spills forth from it,with Michael's Caine's recitation of Dylan Thomas ringing in our ears: "Do not go gentle into that good night
Old age should burn and rave at close of day
Rage, rage against the dying of the light" It's also a story satiating our hungry curiosity about space. For many of those who've had childhood fascination for space, an intrigue for the eventual destination of mankind, Nolan 's Interstellar propels their fancy searingly into extra-terrestrial realms. Optimizing high-tech glitz with outlandish shooting-locales, Nolan resurrects an atmosphere throbbing with the sights and sounds of the fantastic. The whole narration of the intellectually dizzying Space-Time imbroglio, the Tesserect, the quasi-mystical dimension blurrying closeness with Amelia Brand (remember that moment inside the Tesserect!), the concept of the future Cooper contacting the past Murphy from behind the bookshelf through codes (Murphy's ghost!), the internalization of the fact that the hologramic portal have been created by future humans for the survival of humanity – are all typical mind-blowing Nolanisms. But the reasons for which such a tale touches you are for its moments of stark human drama reaching out of a visionary concern. Our constant wrestling with ourselves trying to remedy the past, trying to capture a moment that has already passed us. A human escapade of trying to find the courage to survive, the motivation to pass to our children the resource for carrying forward humanity. It was Christopher Nolan I was watching.. I expected him to entertain me, mess with my mind, come out with a few time-defying dialogues, but I did not expect him to convert me! For someone who loves Classics of the likes of – Schindler's List and Wuthering Heights, about three-quarters through the movie I realized I was watching the best of all that I'd ever watched till now! A Sci-fi thriller.. really? How cruel can the business of genre-naming sometimes be!!