We recently watched A House of Dynamite on Netflix. It is #3 on the IMDb Top 10 this week. Here’s the plot as per IMDb, “When a single unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.”

I like a pending nuclear disaster movie as much as the next guy, which is usually my husband, so we tuned in. Two of the stars are Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, so that was a good sign.

Early into the movie we realized that we were watching the same story from three different perspectives. That was interesting and really brought home the plot line. I was wondering how this impending disaster would resolve. Which characters would survive? How would POTUS respond? Would this be the beginning of the end of the world?

Here’s the SPOILER ALERT: By the end of the movie, we were aware that, to use their words, “we are all living in a house of dynamite.” It could blow anytime. Therefore, director Kathryn Bigelow, elects to leave the ending unresolved. She wanted the audience to think for themselves about the impending results from a nuclear event. She thought it was important to get information to the viewers to start a conversation. To quote her, “That’s the explosion we’re interested in – the conversation people have about the film afterward.”

My sister Linda, Bob, and I had a conversation at the end, but I don’t think it was what Bigelow was hoping for. It was more along the lines of, “You have to be kidding me! I hate this! I need to punch something!” Originally, I thought we were watching a movie, but now I know it was a film. In my experience, filmmakers want you to think when you watch their story, so my mistake. I was looking for a good story with good acting that would be all tied up with a bow at the end. Two out of three is not enough for me. I need the ending.

About endings, as a writer I know that they are hard to do well. How drawn out should an ending be? Should it be a surprise or exactly what you expected but in a satisfying way? I’m no deep thinker, but in my humble opinion, a director who opts for conversation instead of ending a film well has taken the easy road, though it may look virtuous. This is why I like comedies. They never leave you wondering what happened. They may leave you wondering about other things, but they have an ending.

More about endings. In about two weeks, on November 20, you will be able to order my new book, Down and Out and Ready for a Miracle. It’s humorous and inspirational. You’ll be able to order it on Amazon. It has a beginning, middle, and an ending. So, you can depend on me not to leave you hanging. I’ll tell you more about it in future posts. Oops, I guess I am leaving you hanging a bit. Stay tuned.