Understand the divisive ending of House of Dynamite, a film trending on Netflix

Released on October 24th by Netflix, the film House of Dynamite quickly rose to the top of the most watched streaming films. In addition to featuring a star-studded cast, the feature film also stands out for marking the return of director Katrhyn Bigelow (Oscar winner for The Hurt Locket) to a major project after a hiatus that lasted eight years.

The work portrays a day of chaos for the United States government, as the country finds itself the target of a nuclear missile aimed at one of its largest metropolises. The public can follow the situation from three different points of viewas important decisions and attempts to stop the threat are made in the space of just 18 minutes.

What happens in House of Dynamite?

House of Dynamite brings an unconventional structure to a feature film, repeating its narrative three times. What changes between each chapter is the focus of the eventswhich alternate between the points of view of Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Fergusson), Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso) and the President of the United States, played by Idris Elba.

• Each act of the film shows both how members of the government try to deal with the threat and conflicts in their personal lives;
• In the meantime, the public never learns who is responsible for the missile, which could be launched by either an enemy country or a domestic agent;
• What is clear is that it appears to be heading towards the city of Chicago, where its impact could kill 10 million people — and another 10 million thanks to the side effects of its nuclear payload;
• The United States government responds to the threat with two missiles that attempt to intercept the payload — one of which misses the target, while the other fails to destroy the threat;
• Thus, many important members of the government decide to leave for the safety of a nuclear bunker in Pennsylvania, where they will be able to plan their next steps.

Given the short space of time it portrays, House of Dynamite doesn’t give much space for its characters to make big plans or think deeply about what’s happening. They are simply faced with a major threat that is coming soon, and they do what they can to respond to it as best they can.

This involves participating in several video calls, which are marked by technical difficulties and a lack of familiarity with technology. At the same time, the characters must deal with pressing personal dramas.: Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jarred Harris), his performance is hampered by the fact that his daughter, played by Kaitlyn Dever, lives in Chicago — and, therefore, could become a direct victim of the attack.

Why does the ending of House of Dynamite divide opinions?

The most controversial element of House of Dynamite is the result of the fact that, although its narrative concludes three times, we never find out what really happens in the end. Although everything indicates that the nuclear attack was successful and devastated Chicago, the public never gets confirmation about its true impacthow many people have died or how the United States government will respond.

As director Bigelow explained to Netflix, this was an intentional decision. “I want the public to leave the cinemas thinking ‘ok, what do we do now?’”, she told the Tudum website. “This is a global issue, and of course I hope that one day we can reduce our nuclear stockpile.”

“But until that happens, we really do live under a house of dynamite. I felt it was really important to get this information out there so we can start a conversation,” he continued. According to director and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim, it was never considered explaining the origin of the attack or who was responsible for it. “The antagonist is the system we build to essentially destroy the world after pulling a trigger,” explains Bigelow.

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