Director Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar poses a question: what is more important, survival of an individual or survival of the species?
The earth is becoming uninhabitable. Continued existence hinges on finding a new planet and figuring out how to propel a colony-sized space station past escape velocity.
In preparation for humankind’s exodus, Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) lead a team of scientists on a mission to three galaxies to find humanity’s next home.
Accepting the task means Cooper must leave behind his children. A promise to his daughter (Ellen Burstyn) elevates Nolan’s film from an adventure about human survival to a story about the survival of a daughter’s love for her absent father.
When the members of S.Q. Reviews meet in the lot outside the Education Building in front of the San Quentin News room, we relate to this theme of a love that transcends time and space.
“Interstellar makes a great argument for the power of love,” Emile DeWeaver says. “I generally think of love as a chemical response that perpetuates evolution, but I loved Dr. Brand’s response to that idea. She said, ‘Then why do we love dead people? What evolutionary purpose does that serve?’ Love is an observable phenomenon that transcends time and space. We get a lot of infantilizing movies in prison, so it felt great to watch something complex for adults.”
Juan Meza didn’t like the choices the protagonist made concerning fatherhood. DeWeaver poses a question: what would Meza tell his daughter after a 20-year absence? Our circle is silent while Meza thinks. We all ache with the decades we’ve been absent from our children.
“If I had a chance to be out and talk to my daughter, I’d say…” Meza shakes his head, searching for words. “I’d tell her it’s not her fault that I left. Had I known that she existed, I would have changed my ways because she is that important to me.”
“I missed my sons’ lives,” Thomas says. “There’s no excuse or way to make up for that. There is nothing I can say, so I wouldn’t say anything. All I can do is do what I can to show how much I love them.”
Meza leans forward in his seat, shaking his head. “No. There are certain things that your child wants to hear no matter how old they are. You have to say it.”
“There’s power in words,” DeWeaver says “I grew up in an unstable environment that made me feel insecure all the time. I need to hear the unspoken, or I can never be sure it’s actually there.”
Jonathan Chiu is our quiet member. Thomas turns to him, determined to get Chiu on the record.
Cooper left Earth because the planet wouldn’t survive for another two generations. For Chiu, one generation with his daughter is enough of a legacy.
“Knowing that she would live to an old age, I would have stayed on the planet with my daughter,” Chiu says.
We rated Interstellar 4 dinner cookies out of 5.
Rahsaan Thomas, Emile DeWeaver, Juan Meza and Jonathan Chiu contributed to this story.
