A House of Dynamite Movie Review: Unflinching look at a haunting reality

Humanity is no stranger to a global disaster or even an extinction level event. With all our sophistication and technological advancements, there is always a lingering sense of comfort. If we could land on the moon, we could handle a virus, or so we thought, until COVID-19 hit and the entire world was forced to shut down and stay indoors. An event we had never collectively experienced as a species before. It was a wake-up call to our arrogant overconfidence. Suddenly, no scenario is improbable, strange, over-the-top, or unimaginable. And the most improbable, strangest, and hard to-imagine scenario of them all, is a nuclear apocalypse. A House of Dynamite rips open our blinds and shows us how close to the cliff we all are teetering. And this long, unflinching look at the dark, never-ending void is hopefully the closest we get to reality. 

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee

The White House situation room is abuzz with news of an incoming nuclear warhead and every department is on high alert. We get everyone’s perspective of how the news hits them, their slow acceptance of its hard reality, and the race to make a potentially world-ending decision. Save for a few passing shots of blissfully unaware civilians, there is no attempt to wring emotions out of the audience. We are strictly within the bounds of the various high-command spaces, receiving information as the officers do. The different sets of characters interact through calls, and even with a cold relay of information, the tension rises because such is the weight of the proceedings. We see the absurdity of our current reality through how mundane things translate into large-scale impact. A delicate mouse-click on a screen cuts to the roaring ignition of a missile. Millions of lives in imminent danger is shown through numbers on a screen. The slow, methodical movement of bureaucracy, spikes our anxiety. Even the most secure systems in the most technologically advanced country in the world, could still fail. We see how flimsy the systems that hold the entire fate of humanity really are. 

Kathryn Bigelow’s earlier works, like The Hurt Locker, have been criticised for showing the American military industrial complex in a sympathetic light, with a careful intent to soften their intimidating international presence. A House of Dynamite shows the USA at the receiving end of an unprovoked act of aggression, with every character with differing yet justifiable reactions and response to the oncoming assault. We do not know who initiated the assault, there are speculations about North Korea’s (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) role and their possible intent in inciting war. But, there are no clear antagonists, and no clear sympathetic victims. However, if you read between the lines, and look at the history of the nuclear arms race and the state of geopolitical tensions, the film tells us that everyone is both the antagonist and the victims.

A House of Dynamite is not a message to the world, warning to its people, or a manual on how to best navigate such a scenario. It is a cold reminder of how shockingly fragile the foundations of our modern lives are. Even with no grand, poetic attempts to evoke our fears, the film manages to remind us how we have managed to sweep highly justifiable reasons for a mountain of paranoia under a dopamine-soaked society. The most haunting part of the film is its climax, a brilliant decision to leave the audience with unanswered questions, and a nerve-wracking choice left hanging in the air. And thus we are shown the global illusion of control. The moment we are closer to an all-out global nuclear war, it has already slipped out of the hands of a single person. As the film tells us, it does not matter if the leader of a country or even an AI decides to start a war. It is the fact that anyone could do it and we won’t know until seconds before being eviscerated, and it could happen at any moment now, and we as a species haven’t begun to discuss this possibility... That is the most terrifying reality and we are living it right now.