Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘A House of Dynamite,’ an unprecedented threat makes its way towards America. It begins on just another morning when bureaucrats enter their offices and a group of officers stare at their screens, both believing it’s going to be just another day. But then, something appears on the screen, a missile from an unidentified source, which should have flagged before. Stopping that missile becomes the core mission, and for the next eighteen or so minutes, everyone following the missile’s path on their screens waits with bated breath to discover what fate has in store for the country. The story unfolds over three sections, with the third section leaning into the themes of the movie and giving meaning to its title. SPOILERS AHEAD.
A House of Dynamite Title Encapsulates the Core Message of the Movie
While ‘A House of Dynamite’ begins as a political thriller that focuses on an attack whose source is unknown, it gradually shifts its attention away from the attack and its instigator, instead turning to a more pressing matter. By the end of the movie, the only question that every character in the film and every viewer watching it on their screens has is “what’s next?” The missile is going to cause significant damage by destroying one of the most prominent cities of the country. But more importantly, everyone wants to know how the President will respond and what it will mean for the world. The President has two options. Either can wait and risk getting attacked with greater intensity, or he can retaliate now, even though it is bound to trigger another world war. It’s like the fire has already taken root; someone just needs to fan the flames so the whole world can burn together.
This is the core message of the movie. ‘A House of Dynamite’ isn’t a regular thriller focused on identifying and eliminating the enemy. It is more concerned with the moral dilemma that comes with the position of being a country’s leader and being responsible for the decisions that can make or break the world. To put things into a better perspective, the President talks about a line he remembers from a podcast. It says, “It’s like we all built a house filled with dynamite… and the walls are just ready to blow.” This refers to the situation where the nuclear powers in the world continue to fill their arsenals, which has turned the world into “a house of dynamite.” Everything is so flammable that one simple spark could torch the whole building, because it will never stop at just one explosion. One explosion will trigger a chain reaction that will not cease until the entire house has been brought down.
The missile headed towards Chicago is the spark that has been lit, and now, no matter what the President chooses, the fire has taken hold, and it won’t stop until it has consumed the whole world. The President wants to de-escalate, but considering everything, even he knows that waiting will do nothing to stop the process that has already begun. If he doesn’t retaliate, it will encourage America’s enemies to attack it from all ends, even if they weren’t complicit in the launching of the first missile. Once that happens, America will have no choice but to go to war. And if he decides to retaliate immediately and attack his enemies at their critical points, it will provoke even the ones who had been patient all this time, hoping not to engage in war. Moreover, this situation was inevitable. If not now, then it would have surfaced in some other form in some other place, targeting another city. It’s like Chekov’s gun. If there is a match, someone is going to light it eventually, and the world will burn.
Read More: A House of Dynamite: Who Fired the Missile?
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