Why Kathryn Bigelow's nuclear war thriller "A House of Dynamite" on Netflix fits so well with the current world situation

In these times, when incidents and the reactions to them give the impression that Russia might only see Ukraine as a prelude, and when the US president has become our most erratic companion, one has developed a strangely pessimistic outlook. One sees children in playgrounds, schoolyards, at the zoo, or at the cinema, and one is concerned that these children may not grow up in peace and freedom.

One hears one's own politicians say, "We are no longer at peace," recalls images from the Donbass, from Bucha and Mariupol, and is worried: about endless debates on sanctions, cowardly measures, slow-motion bureaucracy.

The film "A House of Dynamite," which has been streaming on Netflix since Friday, shows how fragile the world has become and how difficult, if not impossible, it is to stop a nuclear doomsday spiral. The director is Kathryn Bigelow, whose portfolio already includes high-caliber political thrillers such as "The Hurt Locker" (2008) and "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012). The screenplay was written by Noah D. Oppenheim, who most recently worked on similar themes as co-creator of the political conspiracy series "Zero Day" with Robert De Niro.

Is it an attack on America? A nuclear missile is rising from the Pacific, the US defenses in Alaska have determined. It soon becomes clear that the impact will occur on American soil. The weapon's origin is unclear; the satellites hadn't detected anything, and Chicago is soon identified as the target. Technical error or intent? Russia? North Korea? China? America's interceptor missiles are rising. "It's about hitting a bullet with a bullet," Deputy National Security Advisor Baerington (Gabriel Russo) explains to Secretary of Defense Baker (Jared Harris) why the chance of success for this maneuver involving a $50 billion system is only 61 percent.

The operation fails. "We've already lost an American city today," says General Brady, head of the nuclear forces (Tracy Letts), as the last minutes of "business as usual" play out in unsuspecting Chicago (the metropolitan area has a population of 9,262,825). We see the dead of the expected attack still alive, going about their daily lives. There's no time for an evacuation.

Older people will remember Nicholas Meyers' "The Day After" (1983), the film that depicted a nuclear war and its consequences during a time of equally extreme fear of nuclear war. The heroes at the time were ordinary US citizens, and the film even convinced President Ronald Reagan that a nuclear war was impossible to win. Bigelow's film focuses on the decision-makers.

Her film has a sober feel, with many sequences having a documentary feel. Contrasting with this are almost poetic (farewell) images, such as the Washington Monument against a rising sun or a US flag reflected in a puddle through which a jogger runs. The strings of Volker Bertelmann's score ("All Quiet on the Western Front," "Conclave") taunt nervously, heightening the tension of the increasingly hectic activity at the various control points: hope. movement. concern. fear. shock. powerlessness.

The characters are concisely and clearly drawn, and some of their fates are effectively touched upon. The Secretary of Defense, for example, is on the phone with his estranged daughter, who promises to talk to him at some point. But she lives in Chicago. It's the calmness in the father's voice that grips the audience. The tears in the eyes of Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), who led the "Situation Room" in the White House with the necessary calm and only dissolves at the end, are also moving.

The US President (Idris Elba) is flying back from a basketball game with his constant companion, a pale officer with the nuclear codes (Jonah Hauer-King), when he must make an ad hoc decision about a counterattack. But what would be the consequences of retaliation against the wrong person? Communicate? Act?

A global spiral of alarm is triggered. Satellites detect that North Korea, Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran are gathering troops. Is this a reaction to what has happened so far? Or the next step in a coordinated attack? "My orders..." are the president's last words.

The 18 minutes leading up to impact are narrated in chapters—the same period of time from different perspectives. The catastrophe itself is not shown, leaving the viewer with the last tiny glimmer of hope that the warhead might not have detonated.

But it's clear that the "house full of dynamite" the Potus heard about in a podcast is the dangerous house we all live in. Yet, in the film, a far more level-headed US government is in charge than the MAGA fanatics in office in reality.

There has hardly been a more thrilling film in recent years. None has left you so shaken.

“A House of Dynamite”, film, 112 minutes, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, with Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, Gabriel Basso, Jason Clarke, Malachi Beasley, Kaitlyn Dever, Jonah Hauer-King, Tracy Letts, Moses Ingram, Brian Tee, Anthony Ramos, Brittany O'Grady (already streaming on Netflix)