“The true antagonist is the system we have built”

After almost ten years, Kathryn Bigelow returns to the political thriller with ‘A House Full of Dynamite’, her new film and a work that explodes – literally – in real time. The Oscar-winning director of ‘On a Hostile Land’ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ build a story here that revolves around a single moment: the launch of a nuclear missile against the United States. But what is interesting is not the attack itself, but how the attacks are experienced. 18 minutes later to that event from three different points of view: the White House Crisis Room, the country’s Strategic Command and, finally, that of the president himself.

“The antagonist is the system we have built”

“Eighteen minutes to decide the fate of the world and yet with limited information to do so”Bigelow explains to Netflix while commenting on the film’s outcome. “We peer into the corridors of power, where highly competent individuals face confusion, chaos and helplessness”.

With a script by Noah Oppenheim (‘Jackie’), the film is based on intense documentary realism reminiscent of the filmmaker’s first works. “During those same 18 minutes, we wanted to show what was happening in the entire government apparatus”explains Oppenheim. In fact, the tripartite structure of the film allows you to see the same conversations from different anglesso that each repetition brings new information and tension to that imminent end.

The first act shows a routine morning for the main characters before the disaster. Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson) says goodbye to her family to begin her day in the Crisis Room; Major Daniel González (Anthony Ramos) tries to put a domestic dispute behind him before arriving at his post in Alaska. And what little normality there is ends when an unidentified intercontinental missile is launched against US territory. At first it seems like a test, but when his inclination flattens, everything changes and he becomes a real threat.

Bigelow and Oppenheim decided never to reveal who knowingly launched the missile.

“The antagonist is the system we have built to basically end the world in the blink of an eye”

In a matter of seconds, the film delves into the bureaucratic and technological machinery of the military-industrial complex: video calls between offices, confusion in command channels, an army of officials and officials trapped between helplessness and duty.

“We are not as good in two dimensions as in three”reflects Tracy Letts, who plays General Brady. “I think it’s really valuable to show that many of those government functions just happen that way. “This is how it would happen.”.

“We live in a dynamite house”

On the other hand, the third act reveals how for the president of the United States, played by Idris Elba, an ordinary day becomes the most important day of his life. As he is evacuated and must decide whether to respond to the attack, Bigelow closes his story with one of his most disturbing phrases:

“I listened to this podcast, and the guy said: It’s like we’ve all built a house full of dynamite making all these bombs and all these plans, and the walls are about to burst. But we’re still living in it.”

For Bigelow, that’s the film’s true message:

“I want the audience to leave the theater thinking: Well, what now? This is a global problem, and of course, I hope that one day we can reduce the nuclear arsenal. But in the meantime, we live in a house of dynamite.”

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