A House of Dynamite on Netflix: is this the big return of Kathryn Bigelow? (critical)
The Oscar-winning director returns, eight years after Detroit, with this rather effective thriller imagining the United States under the threat of a nuclear bomb.
This is the second time this year, after the last Mission: Impossiblewhich we think of in front of an American film Limit pointby Sidney Lumet, sixties thriller where Henry Fonda tried to prevent a nuclear war. We have to face this: international tensions are intensifying, so US cinema is returning to its scenarios from the time of the Cold War.
In A House of DynamiteKathryn Bigelow pleads for de-escalation. And intends to show the fragility of the American superpower. His film describes the reactions of a handful of military personnel, politicians and Pentagon strategists when they learn that a nuclear missile of unknown origin is heading toward Chicago. They have 18 minutes to act.
The plot is structured Rashomonreplaying the same events three times from different points of view. Bigelow tracks here – a classic theme for her – the moment when the illusion of power cracks, when the supposedly invulnerable institution explodes under pressure.
The dramatic strings of the film are sometimes big, its sentimentalism a little heavy, but, for Bigelow, all means are good to make us contemplate the abyss on the edge of which the world dances because of nuclear proliferation.
Including the choice to blend his usual style, dry and nervous, into a rather “TV” form, somewhere between 24 hours flat And Zero Daystreaming being the next logical step in a career spent exploring all levels of the industry, from the underground to Oscar-winning films and B-movies.
By Kathryn Bigelow. With Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso… Duration 1 hour 52. Available October 24 on Netflix.
