Last night we decided to see Interstellar. I had a kind of "debt" to the film: I'd seen countless positive reviews, and a couple of days ago, I came across a post full of images alluding to the film. That rekindled the desire to finally sit down and watch it. So we did what, for me, is the perfect ritual: put the kids to bed early, make some popcorn, and make sure the room was dark.
The film opens with an almost post-apocalyptic atmosphere: dying cornfields, dust storms, and humanity reduced to surviving in what seems like a forced return to agriculture. From the outset, Nolan makes it clear that this isn't just any science fiction story, but a human drama wrapped in theoretical physics. Between references to wormholes, theories of relativity, and a tone of urgency about the extinction of the species, the film creates an atmosphere that is both scientific and emotional.
But of course... I had to pause the movie several times to explain to my wife what the hell was going on. Between time dilations and interstellar worlds, she found the pace slow and confusing. In the end, her verdict was clear: "Boring." For me, the ending was a curious mix of originality with a hint of an open ending, as if she were leaving the door ajar for a future sequel if the commercial reception warranted it.
What really left me thinking was her final reflection. After almost three hours of footage, she told me with a seriousness unusual for her:
"We've wasted two hours and forty minutes of our lives on a film that brought nothing beneficial to our lives; we are victims of the idiocy of society and of the system that has distracted us from thinking about what really matters. Find a better movie next time."
That ending killed me; I was left with my mouth open and an idiot face, hahahahaha, because she rarely (if ever) speaks like that. It left me laughing inside, but in "quantum" shock at the same time. Perhaps he was right: between popcorn and special effects, we often don't notice how mainstream entertainment becomes a "balm" that lulls us to sleep, distracts us, and distances us from conversations that could change our lives.
Also, because of that music in so many YouTube and Instagram shorts, we didn't realize that, while we were watching the end of the world on the screen, outside, we were still ignoring our own. That, in the end, what matters most is the time the film alludes to so much. Time we lose is time we can't get back.