Foreword: Do not read if you have not watched the movie, and if you plan to watch it
The movie begins with Cooper shown to be doing some cool work that not many can do. No one really knows what work, because they don’t tell us ever. Anyway, after he barges into NASA’s secret office, they just hire him for the job. They have set up everything that an astronaut can dream about. The only thing missing is one astronaut. One brave astronaut. They probably had the job profile advertised in the market but it was done so discreetly that the only way to get the job was to figure out NASA’s location through binary codes. Amelia in NASA’s office just smiles a lot for no reason. It’s only later that we realize that she is the most emotional astronaut in the history of mankind.
When he has to leave for the mission, Cooper just removes a watch out of his pocket (he carries a spare one apparently) because his daughter begs him to not leave. She throws the watch and it lands somewhere, yes, in the library, and it’s not difficult at all to guess that the watch is going to play a pivotal role in the movie. Without that watch, human race probably would not have survived. The reason why Cooper carries a spare one, probably. It’s all weird because apparently Cooper sends himself the coordinates for the secret NASA office, and then he sends his daughter the code for completing the equation. Think about it, it simply does not make sense. Anyway, let’s move on with that one.
Once on board, these cool guys discuss philosophy, philanthropy, relativity, that a black hole “that big” has greater gravity, and then some more physics which I am sure no one understands. Basically, a lot of humbug that we have heard of and will always be thrilled about.
At first I thought that the robot is thrown in as a prop, just because a sci-fi movie cannot be without a robot that is funny too. But wait, it is more than just a robot with a sense of humour. It acts as a watchdog, as a scapegoat, and watches the space and informs the astronauts about some imminent danger when they are busy crying and having some emotional conversations. After all, Amelia is the most emotional astronaut in the history of mankind. It also happens so that one of the astronauts is hired just to keep reminding the other guys about black hole, what it does, and how it works. Every time he opens his mouth, he mentions black hole. Never mind that, though. Just when I was ready to accept that they went to space to find a planet fit for humans and not just to “hop on a planet for showing human progress”, we see that they don’t forget to hoist the American flag even during such a stressful period. Commendable. Or may be it means something else. Hmm..
Next, Cooper docks a flying object onto another, and boy he does it so well (because it is “necessary”)! Tars, our robot, also knows how to help with docking, besides his part-time job of acting like a funny watchdog. All the while, Amelia keeps her eyes shut and fingers crossed, because she is the most emotional astronaut in the history of mankind. It is necessary because the eventual problem of most sci-fi movies is the same, that of less time and less fuel. We cannot apply our creativity there. Also, when Tars has to be detached, Amelia cannot come to terms with that idea. When Copper says that he is just a robot made to take orders she says – come on! Because she is the most emotional…yawn!
In the meanwhile, on Earth, Murph screams out that the mission is a sham, when in reality it is not. Thing to be noted is that they have cleverly shown that she had gone to a school where her teachers believe that man never landed on moon. Something worth wondering is if NASA paid them to prove to the world once again that they did land on moon, by making words of skepticism come out of stupid teachers’ mouths.
In the end, Tars and Cooper have gotten the final link to the equation. We are not shown how, because we are shown that you apparently need to jump into black hole to find the final piece. Tars and Cooper have found it. Sure this robot has a better role and more emotions than Matt Damon in the movie. The final piece is conveyed by Cooper to his daughter from behind the books, by pushing them and arranging dust in binary patterns, because there is lot of dust on Earth now, that can be made good use of. Turns out, it’s the future him giving clues to the past, to save itself, as he walks back and forth in time. That is killing one of the biggest theories – of trying to change the past. Or may be they never changed the past, and the future was always in loop with the past. It’s not confusing really, because it is not supposed to make much sense.
After Cooper’s mission is complete he just dissolves and gets out of the dimension that he is trapped in. Who really controls that, we are never told. May be love.
What just happened
Some other things to wonder about:
The odds that Amelia should touch the “inexplicable” who happens to be Cooper, that Cooper should fall into time-space continuum and land behind the library, and that the library be located in his house only (because it is built on a highly magnetic field), are tremendous, aren’t they?
Amelia can send her information easily from a different galaxy altogether, when we wonder why Cooper has to get caught behind the library and convey his information through gravitational waves that become morse code. May be because he needs to be inside to convey it.
The final message of the movie is beautiful – that only love can save this planet. But that message cannot save Christopher Nolan. You need a better plot and its execution to convey something so profound.
whatsinablogsname 