The movie Christopher Nolan calls an “incredibly palpable mainstream phenomenon”
The sci-fi mysteries of Christopher Nolan have appealed to the mainstream in a way that’s simply unprecedented, evident in the dominant discourse about his work on all social media platforms. This trend reached a new height this year with the release of Oppenheimer, one of the most highly anticipated blockbusters of the year that became a part of an immensely popular rivalry with Greta Gerwig’s new feature, Barbie.
However, Oppenheimer was a deviation from the kind of projects that established Nolan as a modern master of the thriller genre. In his earlier works like Memento and The Prestige, the director’s ability to craft complex narrative structures delighted audiences since the films were perceived as elaborate puzzles to be solved. The one Nolan movie that continues to serve as the best example of this is none other than the 2010 sci-fi feature Inception.
Starring the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception is an intellectual exercise that imagines a world where humanity has figured out how to penetrate the subconscious. Visually translating the labyrinthine nature of dreams, Nolan takes us on a strange, vivid journey to the centre of the human psyche. In an interview with The New York Times, the filmmaker revealed that he was inspired by the literature of Jorge Luis Borges during the making of Inception.
Nolan began: “Probably Borges. I’d like to think this is a movie he might enjoy. It sounds like a highfalutin reference in some ways, but the truth is, he took these incredibly bizarre philosophical concepts – like a guy facing a firing squad who wants more time to finish a story in his head, and he’s granted more time by time slowing down, as the bullet travels between the gun and him – and makes them into very digestible short stories.”
While describing the phenomenon of condensing complex philosophical concepts into engaging cinematic material, Nolan pointed to an iconic example. He added: “The Matrix, to me, was another great example. It was an incredibly palpable mainstream phenomenon that made people think, ‘Hey, what if this isn’t real?’ Yes, that’s a massively complex philosophical concept in some sense. But in another sense, it’s really simple.”
One of the standout cinematic spectacles of the 1990s, The Matrix undoubtedly had a significant impact on the popular consciousness. At a time when technology was evolving at breakneck speed, and so were the anxieties about the future, the Wachowskis captured it all by crafting a superb sci-fi action flick about the simulated nature of reality. It had everything, ranging from entertaining slo-mo action sequences to philosophical foundations built on the writings of Jean Baudrillard.
Watch the trailer below.
