‘A House of Dynamite’ Nails the Psychological Reality of Nuclear War
Kathryn Bigelow, chronicler of the psyche under pressure.
Photographer: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
Late in the new movie A House of Dynamite, the American president, evacuating in his helicopter and having to decide whether to launch nuclear weapons at no one in particular, in retaliation for an incoming nuclear strike from no one in particular, yells at the commander of STRATCOM that all of this is “insanity.” The commander, overwhelmed but professional to the end (which is imminent), replies: “No, sir. This is reality.”
Most people who have studied nuclear weapons in depth eventually crash into this wall of absurdity: Humanity has not only built the means to destroy itself but has even set up international constellations that could force world leaders who are acting rationally to initiate that destruction. Never mind the leaders acting irrationally.