Too many lights!
Faced with the epic that is Interstellar (2014), there’s a certain inclination to punt because this is a big story that seems to embody a single theme, if it can only be dug out of the floorboards of the storytellers’ minds. This is also a story that plays its cards close to its vest. The only foreshadowing is so heavily disguised that it’s merely one of many mysteries, rather than a vital, if unintelligible, clue concerning the future. Even the dystopia into which we step is only vaguely hinted at, with remarks about agricultural pests which can no longer be kept at bay, and hints that a war was fought in which certain combatants chose not to use the biggest weapons at their disposal, despite the demands of the leaders.
That dystopia is the main driver of this story, a story which starts on a farm full of quiet desperation and leads to the mysterious phenomenon in orbit around Saturn, and from there to somewhere else. But this isn’t all about physical bravery, but mental as well, as the mathematics of survival – the equations which must be solved in order to lift mankind off of Earth – prove to be a critical and lifelong focus for several characters. Follow that with survival-oriented betrayal, and then another one, and then a reversal, an almost ridiculous survival stunt, and at least one mountain sized chicken & egg plot hole (which the story very wisely never tries to explore), and after a while the mind starts to boggle at trying to understand all of the currents and undercurrents going on in this story.
The theme may simply be Never quit. The elaborations are, however, sophisticated and intellectually informed. For example, the fact that time slows in gravity fields is a fact that is used to good advantage, even if it seemed to be exaggerated and perhaps leads to a bit of a scientific blunder by the storytellers. That leads on to questions concerning how social beings would cope with large chronological discrepancies – and not through a bit of magic to make it all go away. Imagine watching your child die, except your child is now 60 or more years older than you. The tragedy is no longer the oncoming death, but the fact that you missed out on their life.
Not every element was explored. For example, there’s some fascinatingly intelligent robots, but we don’t really get to explore whether those things they’re asked to do have any ethical facets or not – you just jump into a black hole if asked.
Add in some lovely CGI, and for the science fiction fan this is probably a gem. As a former reader, I can say it was good to see the female characters coming to the fore. How this plays with the general audience is a little harder to say, but I say the hell with that question.
Recommended.
