No, Christopher Nolan, I Will Not Risk Dying to See “Tenet”
In the continuously awful year that is 2020, many films I, and many others, have been excited to see have been delayed to later release dates or have been put onto video-on-demand services. While Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is still my most anticipated film of the year (it hasn’t been delayed or confirmed for streaming so who knows what’s happening to it), I’ve been eagerly awaiting Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Although many cinephiles write off Nolan as some sort of hack, I’ve enjoyed a large amount of his filmography. I’m particularly excited for Tenet because John David Washington is the lead for the film, making Tenet Nolan’s very first film with a person of color in a leading role (took him long enough). It feels strangely ironic that Christopher Nolan, a rich, cis-gendered White male, is struggling to push out his film with a Black lead at a point in time where — at least in the United States — COVID has made a disproportionately disastrous impact on the Black community. Questionable ethics around releasing a film like Tenet at this point in time aside; from Memento to The Dark Knight, I’ve admired Nolan from afar as being one of the last of a sadly dying breed of semi-experimental filmmakers that make original films and still draw out blockbuster crowds, but there’s one particular issue I’ve had with Nolan these past few months (besides his debatably abusive work culture where he — allegedly — refuses his actors and crew members to sit on set).
I’m still rather excited to see Tenet whenever it releases, yet I’ve been consistently disappointed with Nolan’s insistence on trying to push the film into theaters as fast as he can. Nolan has disregarded the fact that the world as a whole is still struggling with an extremely deadly and tragic virus for the sake of trying to be the “savior of the cinema.” It’s no secret that the theater industry has been pummeled this year by closing down and cutting off their entire revenue streams. Many smaller theaters across the world have had to shut down due to COVID, and large American chains such as AMC and Cinemark have been struggling to the point of needing to file bankruptcy, or are at high risk of doing so (for further reading, click here for Rafael Sarmiento’s Incluvie article on COVID’s impact on the film industry). In these trying times for the entire entertainment industry (not just film), companies are rushing for any saving graces they can afford, and Christopher Nolan is attempting to pin himself as the savior to “modern cinema” by pushing Warner Bros. to shove Tenet into theaters as fast as possible. On the one hand, I can understand why Nolan would be so desperate to release his film; Tenet is a passion project of his, something he’s undeniably proud of, and he understandably doesn’t want to see the theater industry go away (I certainly don’t want movie theaters to go away forever). On the other hand, Nolan has shown a complete disregard for the safety of everybody in the world by helming a superiority complex on rushing Tenet out as fast as possible, despite the major risk that comes from sitting down in a group of potentially infected people for up to two-and-a-half-hours at a time.
So, no, Christopher Nolan, as much as I’m excited to see your new film, I’m not going to risk my life, and the lives of everyone around me just to go see your movie; no film, no matter how fantastic it might be, is worth dying for. Although Nolan hasn’t gotten that message, Warner Bros. seems to get it by agreeing to release Tenet in theaters, but only in countries that have properly tackled COVID, to where it isn’t much of a threat anymore. Areas such as Japan, The U.K., and many more are expected to have Tenet debut by the end of August, and Nolan is still trying to shoot for a 2020 release date in the United States by opting for a Labor Day weekend release. Even though Tenet will release in countries that have gotten a better hold of COVID than the U.S., I still would urge people to take extreme caution on willfully going to movie theaters. It’s rather unrealistic to expect every single citizen of a given territory to be tested for COVID, let alone anyone who’s going out in public to not have said virus, so it’s still a major gamble to willfully put yourself in a room packed full of people for extended periods of time. It’s not my place to tell you whether or not you should put yourself in the middle of a petri dish (also known as a “movie theater”), but even if theaters properly enforce social distancing and mandatory masks, you’re still putting too much faith in other people to adhere by strict rules. If the countless online clips of “COVIDiots” are to go by*, you’re playing with fire, hoping to not get burned.
As much as I understand Nolan’s hardline stance on not releasing Tenet directly to the video-on-demand market, the times we’re living in are far different than just a few months ago. Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. should just sit on releasing Tenet until a proper COVID vaccine is created and properly distributed, or just buckle down and give it a home release. I hate saying that, but every possible precaution should be made to avoid endangering more and more people.
*the video linked contains extremely sensitive material, including racial epithets, strong language, and violence.
