The Earth is ravaged by dust storms and a terrible plague that ends all crops. Faced with the imminent end of humanity, a small redoubt of scientists will try to find another habitable planet in a distant galaxy thanks to a wormhole discovered near Saturn. Cooper, a former farmer-converted pilot, will be one of those chosen to pilot the ship. However, the price you must pay to save humanity will be very high.

Christopher Nolan has always shown a clear obsession with temporary paradoxes and dream worlds. Proof of this are films like ‘Memento’ (2000) and ‘Origen’ (2010). Films where it combines realities that serve as an engine to immerse ourselves in human emotions. After the break that the Batman trilogy meant, Nolan resumed his more personal style. He did it with this trip to the stars in search of hope for humanity. Without a doubt, the most ambitious job of his career.

A very present ambition and in clear reference to ‘2001: an odyssey of space’ (Stanley Kubrick, 1968). Nolan honors the beauty of the cosmos and humanizes the monolithic computer that accompanies astronauts. It’s not the only one. There are concept or purely contextual references to other titles that, for argumentative reasons, I prefer not to mention, not even Nolan wanted to do it in previous interviews so as not to give clues about the plot. This will lead more than one to wonder if this project is as personal as it seems. In my opinion it is, for good and for bad. Although it is a hypnotizing and spectacular film, it is no less true that, when the time comes, Nolan deploys all his artillery.

The plot base presented by the Nolan brothers is the future extinction of the human race. The Earth has become an inhospitable planet and the human being must find another planet or disappear. Fleeing from the usual clichés, Nolan shows us a sordid-looking Earth. An Earth that is overwhelmed by the harmless appearance of its cornfields. The work in photography of Hoyte van Hoytema is brilliant. It highlights an important use of IMAX even indoors and exquisite care of the palette to capture the dusty environment of a damned planet.

In that agonizing world is where we are introduced to the character of Cooper, played by an excellent Matthew McConaughey. Cooper is a former pilot who has had to become a farmer to meet the needs of a hungry population. Curious case of this actor who, after years doing minor roles and little chicha, has ended up convincing even the most skeptical. There is his work in ‘Magic Mike’ (Steven Soderbergh, 2012) or ‘True Detective’.

Cooper’s character represents hope and sacrifice. He is the last redoubt that humanity has left. A humanity that, instead of looking for its place in the stars, has ended up living in the dust. It will be the love for his family, especially towards his little daughter Murph (very well interpreted by Mackenzie Foy), the cause for which he decides to abandon everything to undertake a desperate and uncertain search. Unfortunately, Nolan does not delve into Cooper’s feelings when he knows that he will probably never see his daughter again … While he shows us the countdown of his takeoff with an absolutely fabulous sequence shot.

Michael Caine and Anne Hathaway are the scientists who lead the space project. A job that must find a future for the human race. Although the former is as solvent as ever, Hathaway cannot say much. This is because his character is quite “accessory.” Jessica Chastain also has an outstanding role with a very good job.

A total of about 165 million were invested in the film, and it groseed over 650 million worldwide. A very prestigious actor was chosen to play the main role in the movie so yes, this movie is conventional.

The way Cooper contacts the characters of Cane and Hathaway dangerously brings the film to the realm of the fantastic. However, behind it underlies a commendable attempt to explore the most extravagant aspects of quantum physics and look for patterns within chaos. Nolan bets heavily on scientific realism. For this he has the collaboration of Kip Thorne, an expert in gravitational physics who had already worked with Carl Sagan when he wrote his novel novel Contact ’. The result of the above is a very dense plot. A plot that I fear can fatigue a large part of the public because it addresses very complex issues. I mean gravitational physics, black holes and string theory. All this, together with the multiple ingredients of this film, make up a considerable amount of information for almost three hours of viewing. However, Nolan’s obsession with time leads him to create a very worked story about the desires and fears of the human being.

As a builder of impossible realities, Christopher Nolan is a director who never disappoints but personally I don not see this as his best. The way he addresses the issue of love, looking for easy tears, is too obvious. Nor do I think it is a success to renounce the likelihood of a fanciful messianism, although the reasons that lead to it can be very defensible. But hey, the plot is well bashed and, despite its excesses and defects, it manages to offer us enough elements to consider the film as a very prominent title.

-Works Cited

AstroKatie, et al. “Cinema Peer Review: Astrophysicist Katie Mack Reviews ‘Interstellar’.” World Science Festival, 28 June 2017
Movie, Interstellar. “#InterstellarHangout – Cast LIVE from Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.” YouTube, YouTube, 5 Nov. 2014,