Just released on DVD, Writer/Director Christopher Nolan’s most recent science fiction adventure, INTERSTELLAR, caused many people to wonder if the movie is going to be merely another hysterical left-wing, politically correct warning of man-made global warning, another fear-induced reason for Americans to buy more hybrid cars.

INTERSTELLAR is set on an ecologically devastated earth about a widower who pilots a spaceship into another galaxy looking for a habitable planet that can save his family and all of mankind.

When asked about the message of the movie concerning his environmental concerns, Nolan (who co-wrote the script with his brother, Jonah, gave a very surprising, politically incorrect answer.

“I don’t like to talk about messages so much with films, because it’s a little more didactic,” the acclaimed filmmaker said. “The reason I’m a filmmaker really is to tell stories, and you hope that they will have resonance for people, and for the kind of things you’re talking about. What I loved about Jonah’s original draft, and we always retained this, was the idea of blight, the idea of there being an agricultural crisis, which has happened historically, if you look at the potato famine and so forth. We combined this with ideas very much taken from Ken Burns’ documentary on the Dust Bowl. I spoke to Ken at great length, and availed ourselves of his resources, because what struck me about the Dust Bowl was that it was a manmade environmental crisis, but one where the imagery, the effect of it, was so outlandish we actually had to sort of tone it down for what we put in the film. The real point is, they’re nonspecific.”

Nolan’s answer speaks more truly to the movie’s message than many understand.

Our responsibility to care for our planet is clear and obvious, but where many people go wrong is that their immediate response is to get the government involved to regulate the environment. This turns an innovation solution into a political problem, which almost never results in anything good. Big government is inherently corrupt.

Nolan continued, “We’re saying that in our story, mankind is being gently nudged off the planet by the Earth itself. And the reason it’s nonspecific is we don’t want to be too didactic or political about it. That’s not really the point. For me, it goes back to something Emma [the movie’s producer and Nolan’s wife] said earlier, which is my excitement about the project was expressing a potentially extremely negative idea that is out there I suppose, in the sense of the planet having had enough of us, and generally suggesting we go somewhere else, but that being a great opportunity, an exciting adventure. There’s something I found very winning about that.” They’re not saying the earth is literally speaking to us. To put it a different way, environmental circumstances in INTERSTELLAR have forced mankind to move on. This is a very different approach compared to most Hollywood filmmakers.

For Christopher Nolan not to jump on the left-wing environmentalist bandwagon seems to be a very bold move and shows great integrity in how he treats his work. What many people are missing is that Nolan isn’t as worried about what we’re doing on the earth as much as he is about what we’re not doing in outer space, among the stars. That’s perhaps the real point of his movie.

That said, INSTERSTELLAR has some strong moral, redemptive values and messages within its characters, including Christian references, but there are some significant worldview problems, especially toward the end.

To really examine INTERSTELLAR’s worldview content requires some spoilers. First, its characters at the beginning are guided by an outer force that they refer to as “they” or “them.” Whether it be other human beings, aliens or supernatural, they don’t know, but they follow it anyways. Without giving too much away, it’s ultimately discovered that man, through the determination of the human spirit, is the sole responsible agent for his future existence. Mankind, interconnected, more biologically than spiritually, looks out for its own existence, because we’re survivors. This “oneness” idea isn’t thoroughly pursued in the movie, but its presence is borrowed from pantheistic ideas.

The worldview is primarily humanist existentialism, especially at the end, but it’s not the only worldview represented. The outlook provided by the characters is extremely positive and optimistic, truly believing, not only in meaning and purpose, but also in hope. Even some Romanticism is pursued, as when Amelia Brand says, “Love is the one thing that transcends time and space.” Romanticism is mostly dismissed, however, because the love that guides Amelia is ultimately viewed deficient, whereas Cooper has a redemptive, moral kind of love guided by love for his family.

Happily, INSTERSTELLAR has some strong moral, redemptive values and messages within its characters, including Christian references. Cooper is a good father, forced to make an impossible decision to leave his family so he can save them. Throughout the movie, he pursues moral choices and fights to protect others. Additionally, there are messages of forgiveness, courage, reconciliation, love, and selflessness. A former mission is named after the Bible figure Lazarus, and one character from this mission even says his rescuers raised him from the dead.

The main message in INTERSTELLAR lies in its point that mankind should pursue space travel, because creative human beings are explorers and innovators. This spirit of pioneering is even patriotic, and it’s this mindset that pushed America to become what it is, a leading nation. Engrained in the movie is a theme of innovation, entrepreneurship and visionary creativity for the betterment of man. There’s even an anti-politically correct moment when Cooper confronts the government school for trying to brainwash his children into believing that the Apollo missions were faked.

The worldview is mixed, because clearly, the filmmakers are asking a lot of questions, but are finding the answers in various worldviews and ideas. Sadly, none of the worldviews pursued, other than the Biblical worldview, gives a holistic perspective and blueprint of life. The Bible answers all of the questions INTERSTELLAR raises. For example:

There is indeed hope for mankind:  Jesus Christ.

We do all have a commonality:  We are made in the image of God.

Love indeed transcends space and time:  Not human love, but God’s brand of love (see 1 Corinthians 13:1 through 14:1).

The plot even makes it clear that man needs interceding and help, something that’s entirely Biblical, but the intercession made in the movie isn’t what humanity really needs. Ironically, the answer they give actually results in the main plot hole of the movie and its theoretical time travel idea. If the filmmakers had followed a Biblical worldview more closely, they would have resolved this problem.