Christopher Nolan Movies

I've heard gobs of praise from the recently released movie, Dunkirk. A friend of mine, declared it was one of the best war movies ever made. The movie is a Christopher Nolan creation, and it seems as if the man can do no wrong--when it comes to movies. As I struggle even to figure out whatever short little piece I'm going to write next, I can't help but ask, "How can such an individual offer an audience quality work after quality work."

To tell the truth, I'm not much of a big follower of many individuals as in I just have to see everything they've done. I mostly seek after works on their merits alone.  I don't care who did them. But I'm getting close to becoming a Nolan enthusiast. His movies often caught my attention before I knew he did them, or before I even knew who he was. In fact, now I think I want to take some time and watch all the movies he's made.

So, what makes his movies so great? Primarily, I think he has found a great way to ask difficult, probing questions without being preachy or insulting. Take one of his earliest movies for example: Memento. He plays around with concepts of trust. What authority can we as humans trust? I think where many humans often place their trust (whether they say elsewise) is on themselves. Their experiences. Their history. Their memories. Their interpretations of facts and texts.  Clearly, the main character illustrates the flaw in trusting self.

Yet, the movie goes further and tears into what many see as objective facts. He asks how can we really trust our scientific methodologies or our written histories. Most of us haven't experienced much of what we trust to be factual, we've simply placed our trust in those who have claimed that their experiences (from where we get the word empirical) have held true to a strict set of standards. A great example is the scene where the protagonist does a series of tests on a subject, to determine if he really has a memory issue. In the end, he comes up with a conclusion, but the wife insists his conclusion does not fit her experience. Torn, she delve in to testing the conclusions herself...With fatal results. (There's way more to this as the movie goes on.)

And lastly, the movie points out that we surely can't know whom to trust. The movie's side characters are nothing but individuals out to take advantage of the protagonist. (And, really in the end, he’s actually takes advantage of them). This movie simply asks tough questions, but doesn't give us any easy answers.

Or, take the movie Inception. Again Nolan poses similar questions as Memento as to how can we trust anything, but he steps up the theme even more by illustrating how difficult it is to plant an idea. And, how dangerous an idea is once it takes root. Once we think we've got something figured out (or when we want something from someone), don't we feel compelled to convince others? (Even, if all you want is for others to leave you alone in your 'truths', you often feel compelled to convince others to leave you alone.) So, how hard is it to get people to see different points of views? How hard it is to change a heart? Part of all this is because of delusions and/or truths we have latched on to.

Then, there is his Batman trilogy. Many call his version of Batman the greatest comic book adaptation of all time. Again, he asks very similar questions, yet does it on a political scale. How does a justice system properly execute justice? What type of system should we trust? Surely, no one has ever debated this.

Now, when dealing with politics one would usually expect to see the normal Hollywood set of talking points, but he doesn't go there. In fact, I think he wanders in a different direction. He addresses fear. I know many (particularly in Hollywood) stress that justice based on fear is ultimately bad. But, that's too simplistic. And, Nolan asks difficult questions concerning the proper use in fear when trying to stamp out injustice.

Batman embraces his fear (the fear of bats) in order that his fear will become the fear of his enemies. He is bearing the same burdens he's implementing proclaiming he's not above anyone.  Whereas criminal bullies like the Scarecrow get a perverse joy in dishing out terror, but can't take it. Or the Joker, a man out to make everything descend into fear-fueled chaos to demonstrate how terrible humanity truly is. Perhaps his fear may be that deep down everyone is not as horrible as he is. The only time in the movie when the Joker loses a hint of joy (and shows some fear) stems from when neither ship chooses to blow up the other.

Ultimately, Batman harnesses fear in order to weaken the unjust while emboldening those who seek justice, i.e. Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent. Sure, one was corrupted. And yes, Batman in turn hides this truth (a questionable action for sure, and it did come back to nip him in the bud in the third movie). He does this so that an illusion of fear may continue, and illusion of fear directed at those who would do Gotham harm. An illusion that will inspire others to enact justice. Concerning this fear spectrum, Nolan does not preach. And, he doesn’t insult a group who may see things a certain way. He simply asks tough questions about what is proper use of fear concerning the pursuit of justice. And many can, and should, question Batman's methods.