As a filmmaker I’ve been looking for a video like this since before I was saved but especially since I WAS saved as I knew there was some Christian influence in his films but couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. The farthest I was able to get was the Adam and Eve thing from Inception because that is the one I’ve seen the most but yeah now I am no longer confused on Nolan’s value system and can pray confidently for him to come to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior as well as for Chris to walk with Him. You’re absolutely right these films are so close to laying down the truth like it is in a grand and artistic way but still point back to people instead of God specifically. Nevertheless still looking forward to his adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. Thank you for making this video and God Bless
Thank you for watching! I'm glad I was able to connect and explain the christian-based aspects of his films that I was wondering about just like you were for a long time.
Yeah, on a stylistic and cinematic level there's just this certain vibe to it. Looking at it now after knowing more about Nolan's spiritual intent makes a lot of sense to me.
And when you realise that Robert pattinson character is chris nolan himself and the whole movie is about writing. Writing is seen as a temporal pincer. Tenet gets a new dimension.
There is also some examples in the Dark Knight series. In Batman begins when Bruce Wayne is at the Wayne Manor and he is met by Ra's al Ghul who tells him how Gotham will be destroyed. Bruce begs him not to and that he (Bruce Wayne) can save the city. This conversation is a more twisted version of Abraham talking with God about the cities Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course the outcomes of these stories ended very differently but it goes to show that Ra's al Ghul has an intense God complex (if that wasn’t obvious before). There are other very obvious examples if you look into it but I chose one that I barely heard media talk about.
Just randomly stumbled across this video, I've seen a lot of Christian reviewers try to extract Biblical themes from Nolan's films, but you succeed in finding the forest as a whole rather than a single tree so to say. Do you think you will do a review on the Prestige?
Thank you! I try not to over-interpret things but connect observations with actual filmmaker‘s intent, so what you‘re saying means a lot. I won‘t be making another video on Nolan‘s films for now, because I really packed all that I want to say about them in this video. I appreciate you taking the time to watch this! I have more videos about christian influence in other movies coming up that I think you‘ll like!
The protagonist does change. He goes from trying to control events to accepting them at the end, when he realizes that Neil has to die for the mission to succeed. Nice video by the way, I too noticed the faith theme when I watched it. I was surprised no one else was talking about it. Everyone was simply fixated on unravelling its complexity.
You can definitely see some progression in the protagonist character that you're talking about when it comes the movie's main theme of "letting go" and "having faith". But the change is really minimal, which still could be looked at as weak character writing, if we look at Tenet only as a straightforward narrative film instead of a more conceptual, even arthouse-level film, which I think it is.
Not a Christian, but this is a really good analysis on Nolan's work that I hadn't considered or heard prior mention of. I never held him in a super high regard above other film greats, since, although his work is undoubtedly great, it's his fanbase perception for me which frankly seems to cater more to the glitz, glamour, and logic of his films which made me question if his work actually had much soul to begin with. Your interpretation gives me a lot more appreciation for his films and I'll definitely have to give them another viewing.
I'm happy this showed you some new aspects of Nolan's films. I think they are very rewatchable, not only because of their intellectual complexity, but also because of their emphasis on emotion and spirituality - two aspects that are mostly overlooked in discussions about them.
Yeah, one could probably interpret and discover many references and easter eggs pointing back to christianity in all of his films. These three are just my personal selection.
Is the Protagonist, Neil, and Ives suppose to be the Trinity? I always noticed the Adam and Eve parallel in inception and all the Bible references in interstellar, but I remember watching tenet in theaters and seeing a wide shot of the 3 of them at the end with the algorithm in a sort of standoff before working together to preserve the timeline did the thought ever occur to me. Neil sacrifices himself, the protagonist is destined to cross paths with him again, they’re flirting with existing outside of time, etc. In interstellar Cooper literally enters a realm outside space and time and can affect his own destiny without violating his own free will and saves the world by accessing forbidden knowledge- quantum data inside a black hole where no man is allowed to come back from. It’s all very secular like u said but it’s something I’ve been mulling over for a long time and I’m glad someone finally made a video about it. Cheers🍻
The trinity interpretation of Tenet is really interesting and I never thought about the scene you mentioned it in that way before. I've read some interpretations of the Neil character online being Christ-like, but everything around that sounded exaggerated and over-interpreted to me. Happy you enjoyed the video!
@lazarovalex I know u said u wouldn’t be doing another Nolan video, but considering the Christian take on these movies do u think there’s a “sympathy for the devil” or some sort of Lucifer-inspired approach to Oppenheimer? Not to get too heavy or anything I just think this is kind of a fun lens to view some of his movies from
I mean Nolan is truly great in what he does, however he doesn't need to make his movies religious movies for him to be a religious man. The Christian influence the movies better, but since the theme is not completely religious the movies aren't either If he made a movie about a theme connected to religion heavily, be it a Biblical story or something similar to the Kingdom of Heaven, it would definitely be much more religious because the theme itself is. That exactly makes his movies great, he does them perfectly and covers the topic they should cover without bringing in his ideals and beliefs too much, a hidden message or morals or certain references, similarities and parallels can make the movie better which he did perfectly. I honestly didn't notice most of them although now that I watch this it is more visible, I did notice Lazarus being a reference to the Biblical Lazarus, but that was about it.
Alex, fantastic insight into the Christian themes in Nolan's filmography. Looking through your catalogue of videos, you're doing the Lord's work! As a fellow Christian filmmaker trying to get people to see these things, this type of content puts wind in my sails. Subbed!
as much as i loved his film making, all those plots only got me more bewildered about life when i was an agnostic, since there is no teleological hope let alone ultimate salvation behind those movies, there is only emptyness and meaninglessness, just like solomon once said. but THank God , Jesus died and rose for me.
9:19 that's often where acoustic organs are found, lol...in churches...I mean...I don't know...I'm not saying the other points aren't good, but still...organs are enormous, you often need a huge building to house them, etc, and they're needed in churches, so, lol...they're often found in churches...but I didn't notice a lot of things mentioned here...
Amazing video. I walk away from almost every film I see with some way of tying it into my Christian faith, it's great to see a video doing just that, and pointing out things I had never picked up on
Thanks! Yes, every film that shares the fundamental truths and reality of good vs. evil is somehow connected to the christian worldview. And some films go even further to acknowledge the cultural and historical presence of christianity like Nolan does with his work. The word of God deepens our perspective in many ways, making the experience of watching movies, even more rewarding.
Actually oddly enough, he’s half-American. One of his parents is American and the other is British, if you listen to Nolan’s brother speak he has an American accent lol
I said american in reference to his filmography, which, apart from his debut film, is all US-produced films, thus Nolan is a Hollywood/american director.
The end of The Dark Knight makes me think about the value of the lie of religion. Both Wayne and Gordon believe that the citizens of Gotham will be served better with the myth of Dent as a man who died a hero.
Very interesting take on Nolan's fantastically crafted films, but it reeks of the typical Kristian narcissistic and viewpoints. You talk about Nolan's use of love and sacrifice, when in reality Kristians only love if your belief system aligns with theirs. They are all just so full of themselves, despise and cast away anyone who isn't playing on their team and preach a condescending pity for everyone. Aside from Is-slime, no other religion does that, but instead usually wish others well. They are most often jealous of others, vulgar and filled with conspiracy theory, and believe in unsophisticated concepts but think other reasonings are to be vilified. Beautiful religion in construct, but sad religion in reality. And so I pray for them.
There are christians who twist scripture into their personal liking, these are the kinds of people you're talking about. The word of God is clear when it comes to the points you mentioned: On loving your enemies: Luke 6:32&35 "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil." On jealousy, vulgarity, lies, conspiracies: Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Christianity isn't defined by the people, scripture defines what it's about. I hope this helps!
The world does not need more Christian literature. What it needs is more Christians writing good literature.
C.S. Lewis
Exactly
@ I don’t think pureflix would understand that though. 😆
I think we can expect some great and defining faith-based filmmaking to come out in the next few years
@lazarovalex Yes. Angel studios is a good Producer.
@@fosterduncan7 Yeah, I think they are pushing faith-based art & entertainment in a really exciting direction
As a filmmaker I’ve been looking for a video like this since before I was saved but especially since I WAS saved as I knew there was some Christian influence in his films but couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. The farthest I was able to get was the Adam and Eve thing from Inception because that is the one I’ve seen the most but yeah now I am no longer confused on Nolan’s value system and can pray confidently for him to come to know Jesus as his Lord and Savior as well as for Chris to walk with Him. You’re absolutely right these films are so close to laying down the truth like it is in a grand and artistic way but still point back to people instead of God specifically. Nevertheless still looking forward to his adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. Thank you for making this video and God Bless
Thank you for watching! I'm glad I was able to connect and explain the christian-based aspects of his films that I was wondering about just like you were for a long time.
@ Absolutely! Keep up the great work! You got a new subscriber 👍
I’ve always felt something spiritual about Interstellar.
Yeah, on a stylistic and cinematic level there's just this certain vibe to it. Looking at it now after knowing more about Nolan's spiritual intent makes a lot of sense to me.
Tenet is one of the most underappreciated movies. Certainly Nolan ones. Good video!
Agreed. It‘s a flawed but fascinating film, and some sequences are just jaw-dropping.
And when you realise that Robert pattinson character is chris nolan himself and the whole movie is about writing. Writing is seen as a temporal pincer. Tenet gets a new dimension.
Woah, I haven't heard this interpretation before
There is also some examples in the Dark Knight series. In Batman begins when Bruce Wayne is at the Wayne Manor and he is met by Ra's al Ghul who tells him how Gotham will be destroyed. Bruce begs him not to and that he (Bruce Wayne) can save the city. This conversation is a more twisted version of Abraham talking with God about the cities Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course the outcomes of these stories ended very differently but it goes to show that Ra's al Ghul has an intense God complex (if that wasn’t obvious before). There are other very obvious examples if you look into it but I chose one that I barely heard media talk about.
I haven't looked deeper into his Dark Knight trilogy, so that's really interesting to me.
Just randomly stumbled across this video, I've seen a lot of Christian reviewers try to extract Biblical themes from Nolan's films, but you succeed in finding the forest as a whole rather than a single tree so to say. Do you think you will do a review on the Prestige?
Thank you! I try not to over-interpret things but connect observations with actual filmmaker‘s intent, so what you‘re saying means a lot. I won‘t be making another video on Nolan‘s films for now, because I really packed all that I want to say about them in this video. I appreciate you taking the time to watch this! I have more videos about christian influence in other movies coming up that I think you‘ll like!
The protagonist does change. He goes from trying to control events to accepting them at the end, when he realizes that Neil has to die for the mission to succeed. Nice video by the way, I too noticed the faith theme when I watched it. I was surprised no one else was talking about it. Everyone was simply fixated on unravelling its complexity.
You can definitely see some progression in the protagonist character that you're talking about when it comes the movie's main theme of "letting go" and "having faith". But the change is really minimal, which still could be looked at as weak character writing, if we look at Tenet only as a straightforward narrative film instead of a more conceptual, even arthouse-level film, which I think it is.
Not a Christian, but this is a really good analysis on Nolan's work that I hadn't considered or heard prior mention of. I never held him in a super high regard above other film greats, since, although his work is undoubtedly great, it's his fanbase perception for me which frankly seems to cater more to the glitz, glamour, and logic of his films which made me question if his work actually had much soul to begin with. Your interpretation gives me a lot more appreciation for his films and I'll definitely have to give them another viewing.
I'm happy this showed you some new aspects of Nolan's films. I think they are very rewatchable, not only because of their intellectual complexity, but also because of their emphasis on emotion and spirituality - two aspects that are mostly overlooked in discussions about them.
There are certainly religious themes in all four Nolan Batman films (Begins, Dark Knight, Rises, and BvS).
Yeah, one could probably interpret and discover many references and easter eggs pointing back to christianity in all of his films. These three are just my personal selection.
Great keep going
Thank you!
Now that's a great video! Thanks 😊
I appreciate you watching!
Great analysis, thank you!
Great video. Subbed mate 🎉
Thank you sir
Is the Protagonist, Neil, and Ives suppose to be the Trinity?
I always noticed the Adam and Eve parallel in inception and all the Bible references in interstellar, but I remember watching tenet in theaters and seeing a wide shot of the 3 of them at the end with the algorithm in a sort of standoff before working together to preserve the timeline did the thought ever occur to me. Neil sacrifices himself, the protagonist is destined to cross paths with him again, they’re flirting with existing outside of time, etc.
In interstellar Cooper literally enters a realm outside space and time and can affect his own destiny without violating his own free will and saves the world by accessing forbidden knowledge- quantum data inside a black hole where no man is allowed to come back from.
It’s all very secular like u said but it’s something I’ve been mulling over for a long time and I’m glad someone finally made a video about it. Cheers🍻
The trinity interpretation of Tenet is really interesting and I never thought about the scene you mentioned it in that way before. I've read some interpretations of the Neil character online being Christ-like, but everything around that sounded exaggerated and over-interpreted to me. Happy you enjoyed the video!
@lazarovalex I know u said u wouldn’t be doing another Nolan video, but considering the Christian take on these movies do u think there’s a “sympathy for the devil” or some sort of Lucifer-inspired approach to Oppenheimer? Not to get too heavy or anything I just think this is kind of a fun lens to view some of his movies from
I mean Nolan is truly great in what he does, however he doesn't need to make his movies religious movies for him to be a religious man.
The Christian influence the movies better, but since the theme is not completely religious the movies aren't either
If he made a movie about a theme connected to religion heavily, be it a Biblical story or something similar to the Kingdom of Heaven, it would definitely be much more religious because the theme itself is.
That exactly makes his movies great, he does them perfectly and covers the topic they should cover without bringing in his ideals and beliefs too much, a hidden message or morals or certain references, similarities and parallels can make the movie better which he did perfectly.
I honestly didn't notice most of them although now that I watch this it is more visible, I did notice Lazarus being a reference to the Biblical Lazarus, but that was about it.
your channel looks sick, coming from someone who is also very into "filmmaking, creativity and faith in God". just subscribed
Welcome! Thank you, glad to have you here.
Great conclusion and analysis
Thank you!
Very interesting. I never knew much of this. Now it's down the rabbit hole. Thanks, Alex!
Thanks for watching!
This is so good! Thank you for making this and sharing it with us all!!
Thanks for watching & commenting!
Yes, Alex♥️ nerdy, movie, saint!!! You are a rare breed, a forgotten race, a loan Survivor in the church!
Glory to God
A rare breed but not alone! Sola Deo Gloria indeed, brother.
Alex, fantastic insight into the Christian themes in Nolan's filmography. Looking through your catalogue of videos, you're doing the Lord's work! As a fellow Christian filmmaker trying to get people to see these things, this type of content puts wind in my sails. Subbed!
Thank you. Looking through your channel I love how you're pushing faith-based creatives. Keep it up!
Great video 👍 now name the score that you have used in this video.
Thanks! I used different pieces of music from Artlist
as much as i loved his film making, all those plots only got me more bewildered about life when i was an agnostic, since there is no teleological hope let alone ultimate salvation behind those movies, there is only emptyness and meaninglessness, just like solomon once said. but THank God , Jesus died and rose for me.
Mythology in the arts is still going strong; being the foundation of theatre anyway.
9:19 that's often where acoustic organs are found, lol...in churches...I mean...I don't know...I'm not saying the other points aren't good, but still...organs are enormous, you often need a huge building to house them, etc, and they're needed in churches, so, lol...they're often found in churches...but I didn't notice a lot of things mentioned here...
Ok, I didn't watch up til 9:34 or so, etc...ok...I stand corrected, maybe there's a point there...
Very nice insights to a filmmaker I greatly respect. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for watching! I‘m glad you enjoyed this.
This is fantastic work.
I have to rewatch all of his movies now.
Be prepared to see them through a new perspective!
Truly investing.
Thank You and God Bess You.
Thank you! Blessings to you as well
Amazing video. I walk away from almost every film I see with some way of tying it into my Christian faith, it's great to see a video doing just that, and pointing out things I had never picked up on
Thanks! Yes, every film that shares the fundamental truths and reality of good vs. evil is somehow connected to the christian worldview. And some films go even further to acknowledge the cultural and historical presence of christianity like Nolan does with his work. The word of God deepens our perspective in many ways, making the experience of watching movies, even more rewarding.
1:04 Dude, for real?
He is not American. He's British
I know, but I still consider him an "american" filmmaker because aside from his debut film, each one is an US production.
Actually oddly enough, he’s half-American. One of his parents is American and the other is British, if you listen to Nolan’s brother speak he has an American accent lol
*British director not American
I said american in reference to his filmography, which, apart from his debut film, is all US-produced films, thus Nolan is a Hollywood/american director.
christianity and religiousness are two different things
Christ instructed Peter to build a church and to gather in His name.
The end of The Dark Knight makes me think about the value of the lie of religion. Both Wayne and Gordon believe that the citizens of Gotham will be served better with the myth of Dent as a man who died a hero.
Nolan copy superastral
Very interesting take on Nolan's fantastically crafted films, but it reeks of the typical Kristian narcissistic and viewpoints. You talk about Nolan's use of love and sacrifice, when in reality Kristians only love if your belief system aligns with theirs. They are all just so full of themselves, despise and cast away anyone who isn't playing on their team and preach a condescending pity for everyone. Aside from Is-slime, no other religion does that, but instead usually wish others well. They are most often jealous of others, vulgar and filled with conspiracy theory, and believe in unsophisticated concepts but think other reasonings are to be vilified. Beautiful religion in construct, but sad religion in reality. And so I pray for them.
There are christians who twist scripture into their personal liking, these are the kinds of people you're talking about. The word of God is clear when it comes to the points you mentioned:
On loving your enemies: Luke 6:32&35
"If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil."
On jealousy, vulgarity, lies, conspiracies: Galatians 5:19-21
"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Christianity isn't defined by the people, scripture defines what it's about.
I hope this helps!