Interstellar
Interstellar is a 2014 science fiction movie that was written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan. The futuristic film follows the struggle of a group of astronauts who must travel through the space to look for the alternative habitable planet and save humanity from extinction. In 2067, the world is slowly becoming inhabitable after it is invaded by a crop blight, a dust bowl. Professor Brand, a brilliant NASA scientist, must work swiftly to transport humankind to another habitable planet through a wormhole. Ten years earlier, the scientist sent twelve other scientists to scout twelve possible planets just beyond the galaxy, three of which had been sending positive data. Now, a group led by Cooper, a former NASA pilot, must travel through a wormhole to ascertain the habitability of any of these three planets. The group registers failures with the first two planets, suffering substantial damage and loss of a member in the process. Cooper sacrifices himself and one of the two robots aboard the ship to increase Emilia’s chances of making it to the third planet. He drifts into the gargantuan black-hole in the process and finds a way to communicate the necessary information to his daughter and help save humanity in the process.
The movie presents several interesting astronomy and scientific concepts, with varying levels of accuracy. The idea of time dilation is expressed widely in the film. Time dilation is a resultant of the general theory of relativity, which indicates that a person in a place experiencing more gravitational forces is likely to have time to move faster relative to that of a person in an area experiencing less gravitational pull. Dr. Brand and Miller spend about 4 hours on Miller’s planet, which experiences high gravitational pull form the adjacent black-hole. This translated to more than 23 years on earth, which experience relatively low gravity.
The existence of a wormhole is also considered a possibility in the actual world if Einstein’s theory of general relativity is anything to go by, though none has ever been sighted. A wormhole is more of a channel that bends the time-space continuum and allows tunneling of information from one side to the other. The same concept is utilized in the movie, where a wormhole is used as a portal to travel from this universe to another galaxy.
The movie also depicts an event horizon with a very high level of accuracy. The crew flying near the black hole is aware of this concept and takes care to stay a safe distance from the event horizon as they explore the planets. The idea is related to the theory of special relativity, which defines a black hole’s event horizon as appoint from which nothing can return.
It is, however, essential to note that the concept of event horizon becomes distorted later when Cooper survives the black hole. Something needs to be traveling at speed higher than that of light to be able to escape from through an event horizon, which is an impossibility. Therefore, Cooper’s survival is an exaggeration that is not supported by any known scientific possibilities. His further escape is also impossible in the real world since the gravitational pull in the black hole is so strong that one is likely to be pulled apart through the concept of spaghettification. His survival is merely untenable in the real world. The idea of five-dimensional space is also highly exaggerated in the movie. The movie presents love as the fifth dimension by making it strong enough to disrupt the time-space continuum and form the point of connection between Cooper and his daughter. There is no scientific backing on five-dimensional spaces.
Interstellar is a spectacular movie that is enjoyable to watch. The film offers a remarkable amount of balance between fiction and reality that sets it apart from the rest. The utilization of several fundamental scientific concepts makes it oddly satisfying to watch, as it keeps in touch with what is real and actionable. One would expect a science fiction movie of such caliber to be purely fictional and extensively exaggerated. Instead, the film employs numerous concepts that are accurate, albeit with varying levels of hyperboles in a few cases. All in all, Interstellar does not disappoint at all.