Humans have always looked heavenward. Our fascination with stars, planets, galaxies and what lies beyond stems from our instincts to explore. It’s also where we turn when things down here appear dire. We’ve always looked up when we need grace, hope, salvation, or escape.
No surprise then that Christopher Nolan’s new sci-fi epic Interstellar is a mind bending journey through time, space and emotion.
Set in a future where a global famine is widespread and humanity may soon become extinct, Cooper, a widowed engineer and pilot (a brilliant Matthew McConaughey) finds himself leading a NASA mission to travel through a newly-discovered wormhole to find new planets to inhabit, with the intention of saving humanity. Early expeditions through the wormhole (aptly titled the 'Lazarus' missions) have not returned and no one knows what they may have discovered.
While technically brilliant (the cinematography and score are stunning), this film is a major surprise in terms of its emotional power. Questions of faith and love abound, and resurrection is a major theme throughout. Like Inception, this is a film you need to talk about and process afterwards, and will no doubt leave you asking questions that can only be resolved through another viewing.
Human emotion is proven to be as complex as the science and theories that are discussed. But it’s the humanity and strained relationship between Cooper and his young daughter Murph (an excellent Mackenzie Foy) that becomes the glue that holds Interstellar together. Cooper departs, with his daughter not knowing when he might return, if at all. There is great pain in the distance between them, and a number of their scenes are amongst the most emotional film moments of recent years.
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