Lauded by many as Christopher Nolan’s best film, Interstellar is a sci-fi movie that follows the story of a man’s journey to save humankind. This visually stunning film won two Oscars for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and Best Achievement in Production Design and was nominated for 3 more. Matthew McConaughey has an incredible lead dramatic performance in this film, in stark contrast to his goofy and hilarious “all right, all right, all right” role in Dazed and Confused. McConaughey performs alongside other stars like Anne Hathaway, Timothee Chalamet, and Matt Damon.

In the not-so-far future, Earth will experience mass disasters, droughts, and crop blights that threaten the existence of human life. In an attempt to keep the general population in a sense of dormancy, any ideas of extraterrestrial travel are suppressed. This goes as far as school textbooks saying that NASA’s moon landings were fraudulent. However, there is a secret coalition of scientists that found a previously undiscovered wormhole in our solar system. On the other side of this wormhole are several possibly habitable planets; a possible new beginning for mankind. After sending a first expeditionary set of astronauts to conduct evaluations of these planets, a man named Cooper played by McConaughey is recruited to lead a second expedition into the wormhole and conduct further evaluations of these planets.

One of the most astounding things about this movie is its scientific accuracy; the movie made an accurate visual depiction of black holes five years before they were photographed. Black holes are supermassive objects in our universe and they have unimaginable amounts of gravitational power. Their gravity is so strong that not even light can escape going too close. When a black hole consumes a large amount of material (often from a star), the material forms in what is called an accretion disk as it orbits the black hole before being consumed. Before 2019, no one knew for sure what accretion disks might have looked like, but with the help of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, the production team was able to make an educated guess. This guess proved incredibly accurate, as 5 years after the movie’s release the first real photos of a black hole were taken. In the image below the black hole from Interstellar is on the left and the real-life photo is on the right.

Real Physicist Proved Christopher Nolan’s Depiction of a Black Hole in ‘Interstellar’ Could Be Backed By Real Data

Another scientifically stunning aspect of the film, but one that is more theoretical is its depiction of time. According to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, those in extreme fields of gravity will experience time much slower than those who may be in gravitational fields like Earth’s. As many of the characters in Interstellar get extremely close to a black hole, this phenomenon can be observed throughout most of the film. This has huge implications on Cooper’s relationship with his children, as they grow up and he stays around the same age. It has massive effects on other aspects of the plot of the movie as well.

Like many other Christopher Nolan films, this movie messes with your head quite a bit. It is intellectually challenging but provides satisfying “aha” moments when you finally understand what’s going on. I love this movie and would highly recommend it to anyone who is at all intrigued by it.