‘A House of Dynamite’: Between the nuclear threat and the dilemma of concentrated power.
Los Angeles (USA), Oct 9 (EFE)
“How would the United States react to a nuclear attack?” That’s the question posed by “A House of Dynamite,” the new film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Noah Oppenheim, which explores the real-life dilemma faced by leaders when they must decide the fate of civilization in a matter of minutes.
Originally released at the Venice Film Festival and set to hit theaters this Friday, the film imagines an extreme scenario: a missile launched from the Pacific is headed for Chicago, and authorities have just 18 minutes to react and prevent catastrophe.
What began as a casual conversation transformed into a project driven by the director’s curiosity and the experience of Oppenheim, a former president of NBC News who worked closely with government officials, military experts, and key sources on the subject throughout his career.
“I received a phone call (from Bigelow) in which he said he wanted to talk to me about a topic that interested him, and that topic was the issue of nuclear weapons. It turns out I also had a long-standing interest in that topic and had covered it for years,” the screenwriter said in an interview with EFE.
Three perspectives, one countdown clock
‘A House of Dynamite’ repeats the same story from different perspectives: the White House Situation Room and Fort Greely, then the top military commanders and advisors; and finally the president, who holds the future of humanity in his hands.
“We thought it was important for the audience to experience on a visceral level how short 18 minutes really is, because that’s the amount of time the president and his generals would have to decide how to respond,” Oppeneheim told EFE.
“He is the only authority with the power to make the decision,” the screenwriter emphasizes.
Rebecca Ferguson (‘Dune’) is one of the film’s lead actresses, and her character as Captain Olivia Walker, in charge of the Situation Room, is one of the few with a more developed personal background.
“I usually play pretty extreme characters, who are very good at certain things, like science fiction. But this character… was simply a mother at home, with her husband and a sick son. And I think it was very natural for me to be as close to myself as possible, in an authentic way,” Ferguson tells EFE.
The ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ actress didn’t hesitate for a moment when she was offered a role in a film by Bigelow, who hadn’t directed a project since 2017 when she released ‘Detroit’: “It was a definite yes,” she says.
The atomic threat, an ignored reality
But now that he sees the final result, he also appreciates the approach of the director of ‘The Hurt Locker’ (2010), remembering that not even countries like the United States are truly safe from a nuclear threat.
“I think people are pretty focused on themselves as human beings, and we see problems that affect us geographically, but a nuclear war is global… You’re constantly living under that threat, regardless of whether your country has weapons or not,” he says.
From her perspective, Bigelow, who became the first woman to win an Oscar for best director, seeks to stir the public into action.
“Kathryn wants to provoke a reaction. How can we create change? Do we create a petition? Do we hold a demonstration? What can we do? Because I think we do need change,” she argues.
The film’s cast includes Idris Elba, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, Greta Lee, and Jason Clarke.
The film will premiere on Netflix on October 24 after a limited theatrical release.
