Finally, after several weeks of its release, I got to watch the much appreciated and much debated 'Interstellar' yesterday. Though I was planning to watch the movie since the first time I saw the trailer on IMDb, the initial post-release word-of-mouth kinda left me quite confused. Apparently, one had to take a refresher primer course in Physics, Theoretical Physics, Relativity, Time-Space curve, Science, Intergalactic Travel, Gravity and what not depending on the people you spoke with. Someone was kind enough to even put a big chart on Facebook trying to explain the timeline of the movie. Which I simply did not understand. Considering that my science is rusty these days, I felt that even if I were brave enough to watch it, any attempt to understand the movie's plot would be an exercise in futility. On the other hand, since I religiously follow Neil DeGrasse Tyson on twitter (mainly to enjoy his humorous tweets, if not his science), watch 'The Big Bang Theory' without missing an episode, understood Stephen Hawking's 'A brief history of Time' (in parts) and last but not the least, consider myself a 'Star Trek' fan (a. k. a. trekkie), there was this little voice inside my head telling me that the movie should be worth a dekko. Plus there was also this little thing of choosing between 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' and 'Interstellar'. So there wasn't much choice.
So finally, when the time came, me and my movie buddy fortified ourselves for a 3-hour, no-restroom-break, movie expecting nothing more than an visually spectacular Chris Nolan film on a big screen. But how wrong was I proved to be! And I'm glad that I got it all wrong. On various counts. The movie did clear some of my misapprehensions about the story and the science behind it. First of all, it is not a sci-fi flick. I repeat, it is not a sci-fi flick! At least so far as I am concerned. Yes, it talks about wormhole travel for finding habitable planets in other solar systems in other galaxies and what happens to time in space and so on, but for me, the main undercurrent was about a Dad trying to get back to his daughter (on time) as promised. In time. Literally. For that, he is even ready to venture into a black hole and beyond. Sweet.
Some parts of the movie really tug at your heartstrings. For example, the daughter not ready to let her Dad go, but the Dad going out (of the galaxy) nevertheless intending to save his daughter's future despite the fact that he knows that he might never see her again, receiving blurred videos from earth indicating how time is running for earthlings and the explorers even as the explorers are caught in a gravity-of-black-hole-slowing-down-the-time conundrum and running-out-of-fuel dilemmas. And of course, a dad reaching out to his daughter from another dimension.... Christopher and Jonathan Nolan must have realized that movies these days need a bigger canvas than Manhattan to portray human drama. And according to me, they were right. The tall skyscrapers were getting a bit, well, time worn. No pun intended.
Coming to the Physics, Theoretical Physics, Relativity, Time-Space curve, Science, Intergalactic Travel, Gravity and what not part, I think the debate will go on and the scientific community has been prompt to explain the science behind the movie. So I won't talk much about it. I am not the expert. You can hear the expert speak here and here. Like I said, for me, the movie was not about science fiction. But about human drama. Relativity might be a cool science speak but we humans are all about relations. I just wish we kept our egos aside and let bygones be bygones and cherish our life.
Which brings me to the crux of the issue. The value of time. And love. Yes, Love. That one emotion, - as Dr. Brand (played with such finesse by Anne Hathaway) aptly summarises - the one thing we are capable of perceiving that transcends time and space. Beautiful.
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