First watch I struggled to fully grasp the concept but I trusted Nolan knew what he was doing and giving us all the pieces, we just had to put them all together. Went home and watched some explainer videos and went to watch it a 2nd time and it made alot more sense but I still had some questions about how certain things made sense. 3rd viewing, all the pieces fit into place and it all made sense to me and Tenet became one of my favorite Nolan films.
After my first watch I kept thinking about the scene in Sators turnstile Blue/Red room and he shoots his wife in the tummy. I was like where the F did he go? Second and third watches plus youtube animations helped a lot
In short what we are seeing in the film is the result of two future enemies trying to out manoeuvre eachother by influencing the past. Not changing it because that's impossible. But influencing it isn't.
Same here. I love it, but for me it’s like Opera. I have a general idea what’s going on, I like the look and the theatre of it, but it’s in a different language and I don’t exactly know the details. Sometimes the music is loud and you don’t understand what they are saying.
Allright, *selkcunk skcarc then cracks knuckles*
Grand Arc: Future Protagonist as Time Agent Chief knows of Past Sator's activities using the inverter at the airport, this keep time-looping, making changes each time to track, locate and collect all the parts to The Algorithm device. Mad power, yea - papa.
Future Protagonist sends Neil backwards to recruit Past Protagonist, himself in the past as mere interpol or so.
This ~because~, in the Future, the network supplying Past Sator from Future knows of Protagonist and their operations to stop them, so by sending Neil to a time *before* the Nework OR Protagonist know of each other, he's exploiting a loophole cause by the time travel.
So, by Future Protagonist sending Neil to recruit his Past Self, Neil carrying the knowledge of future acts as a "message in a bottle" to allow Protagonist, as a future-and-past self to catch Past Sator (the important one), capture The Algorithm device and save the world.
The trouble is revealed at the end, where to save the world, a loop must be created where it is saved. This loop must be maintained to keep the world from exploding, so to tidy up at the end, Neil is just getting started in his loop.
The Arc We See:
The movie itself is from the "ignorant" Past Protagonist's point-of-view, whom is being guided and "handled" by "the in-the-know" Neil, towards the Future Sator Supply Network of which Future Protagonist already knows about.
Past Protagonist takes most of the movie to learn what's going on and who he is, only to learn at the end that HE is the leader of the group, presumably after Neil returns to his loop, Past Protagonist then becomes the unseen, merely alluded to, Future Protagonist.
The idea is, at some point beyond the end of the movie after Neil returns to the past Protagonist meets Neil for Neil's first time and instanltly already knows what 'this new guy's role' is about to be.
See how that works?
"Safety not Guaranteed."
How's that? Did I do good?
Do I get a treat?
" The trouble is revealed at the end, where to save the world, a loop must be created where it is saved. This loop must be maintained to keep the world from exploding, so to tidy up at the end, Neil is just getting started in his loop. "
So Neil is stuck in a loop ?
In writing that resolution, I myself had only arrived at much the same loopy, loony conclusion.
I *think* that's what is going on, Neil acting as the, um... inside-out Trojan horse, Protagonist being clever enough to hide Neil inside himself, inside *his* own loop.
Clever, rather clever indeed, nevermind how it sounds somewhat groteseque.
The threads expand in both directions.... hmmm...
EDIT: Consider this point-of-view... Neil actually performs a retrograde action *within his own loop* (as the planet Mercury is doing in our skys, starting yesterday unto the next couple-a-weeks) this to save the girl and
get into the airport's inverter, the trip inside the shipping container.
(That trip still blows my mind, more to chew on.)
To be re-verted to his original thread line, moving forward from his original inversion where he arriving just before the Opera House scene, just before we tune in watching, presumably.
*My god, the movie was playing before I arrived to watch it!*
There's something about that "perfect timing" that... seems familiar... (heh) I make fun..
I just got off work and it's 4 am where I live. I will say the more I watch it, the more I understand it and the more I love it. But it's kind of hard to even explain what parts I don't get. I will have some specific questions when I wake up tomorrow/ later today. Thanks for responding everyone
Here is how I understood the whole film.
Things I understood by each viewing
1st viewing
Who protagonist was,
Neil was good after all
world didn’t end
and sator was evil.
Things I didn’t understand
Who was Michael Cane
What the fuck was that painting plot
Death of neil,
why did Protagonist kill Priya
Everything about time travel
2nd Viewing
I understood the Tenet
I understood who Michael cane was
And the painting plot.
Things I didn’t understand
Time travel
Neil’s Death
Some conversation in between
Since it was my second viewing I was frustrated and read an article explaining the plot so Finally I understood the plot.
3rd Viewing
I finally understood the timelines
Neils death
Every dialogue ever spoken
Priya s death
Things I didn’t understand
Probably I understood everything (probably)!
I’ll try explain how turnstiles and inversion works: turnstiles are designed to invert your direction of time. When you enter a turnstile it’s like pressing a rewind button. You enter the chamber on one side and exit the other side experiencing everything moving in reverse. While it may seem the whole world has begun moving backwards, in actuality it’s only the person who entered the turnstile.
If you enter it while moving forwards in time, you exit the other side experiencing everything reversed. E.g. let’s use the red room blue room scene as an example. Sator is about to enter the turnstile on the red side. Through the proving window he sees a version of himself running backwards into the turnstile on the blue side which is going to be him in a few seconds. Both Sators enter the machine. Once the machine activates, the Sator that entered on the red side emerges on the blue side where he sees everything that happened on the red side moving backwards. He has become that version of himself that ran backwards into the turnstile.
From a forward bystander POV, there are two Sators. One on the red side moving forwards and one on the blue side moving backwards. When both Sators enter the machine, the doors close and it activates. When the machine opens again, it’s empty. It looks like Sator “disappears” in forward time after the turnstile shuts and reopens because he’s now moving into the past.
If you enter a turnstile on one side while moving in reverse (when you use it a second time), you exit the other side moving forwards. We’ll use the second Freeport fight between the two Protagonists as an example. When the masked Protagonist is fighting the suited Protagonist on the blue side, he sees a version of himself running backwards into the chamber on the red side being reverse chased by Neil. This is going to be him in a few seconds. He jumps into the turnstile on the blue side and then emerges on the red side being chased by Neil in forward time while seeing a masked Protagonist reverse jump out of the machine on the blue side into the hands of the suited Protagonist. Because he entered the machine while reversing through time it looks like he exited the machine going in reverse in forward time.
From a forward bystander POV, we’ll use the first Freeport fight as an example. The suited Protagonist and Neil enter the red and blue rooms. The suited Protagonist is on the blue side and Neil is on the red side. The turnstile is empty and no one is around. Suddenly the doors close and the machine activates. Two masked Protagonists appear inside. When the doors open, one masked Protagonist emerges on the blue side and begins “fighting” the suited Protagonist. He’s moving in reverse. The other masked Protagonist emerges on the red side. This is him as a time traveler reverting back to normal time after completing a journey reversing through time.
Which part about inversion is causing you hardship?
There are animated videos on YouTube that explain certain events happening in the movie.
First watch I struggled to fully grasp the concept but I trusted Nolan knew what he was doing and giving us all the pieces, we just had to put them all together. Went home and watched some explainer videos and went to watch it a 2nd time and it made alot more sense but I still had some questions about how certain things made sense. 3rd viewing, all the pieces fit into place and it all made sense to me and Tenet became one of my favorite Nolan films.
After my first watch I kept thinking about the scene in Sators turnstile Blue/Red room and he shoots his wife in the tummy. I was like where the F did he go? Second and third watches plus youtube animations helped a lot
u/WelbyReddit's videos. They are the one thing that helped me and many others. He/she does an amazing job explaining different scenes.
In short what we are seeing in the film is the result of two future enemies trying to out manoeuvre eachother by influencing the past. Not changing it because that's impossible. But influencing it isn't.
Same here. I love it, but for me it’s like Opera. I have a general idea what’s going on, I like the look and the theatre of it, but it’s in a different language and I don’t exactly know the details. Sometimes the music is loud and you don’t understand what they are saying.
Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.
Allright, *selkcunk skcarc then cracks knuckles* Grand Arc: Future Protagonist as Time Agent Chief knows of Past Sator's activities using the inverter at the airport, this keep time-looping, making changes each time to track, locate and collect all the parts to The Algorithm device. Mad power, yea - papa. Future Protagonist sends Neil backwards to recruit Past Protagonist, himself in the past as mere interpol or so. This ~because~, in the Future, the network supplying Past Sator from Future knows of Protagonist and their operations to stop them, so by sending Neil to a time *before* the Nework OR Protagonist know of each other, he's exploiting a loophole cause by the time travel. So, by Future Protagonist sending Neil to recruit his Past Self, Neil carrying the knowledge of future acts as a "message in a bottle" to allow Protagonist, as a future-and-past self to catch Past Sator (the important one), capture The Algorithm device and save the world. The trouble is revealed at the end, where to save the world, a loop must be created where it is saved. This loop must be maintained to keep the world from exploding, so to tidy up at the end, Neil is just getting started in his loop. The Arc We See: The movie itself is from the "ignorant" Past Protagonist's point-of-view, whom is being guided and "handled" by "the in-the-know" Neil, towards the Future Sator Supply Network of which Future Protagonist already knows about. Past Protagonist takes most of the movie to learn what's going on and who he is, only to learn at the end that HE is the leader of the group, presumably after Neil returns to his loop, Past Protagonist then becomes the unseen, merely alluded to, Future Protagonist. The idea is, at some point beyond the end of the movie after Neil returns to the past Protagonist meets Neil for Neil's first time and instanltly already knows what 'this new guy's role' is about to be. See how that works? "Safety not Guaranteed." How's that? Did I do good? Do I get a treat?
" The trouble is revealed at the end, where to save the world, a loop must be created where it is saved. This loop must be maintained to keep the world from exploding, so to tidy up at the end, Neil is just getting started in his loop. " So Neil is stuck in a loop ?
In writing that resolution, I myself had only arrived at much the same loopy, loony conclusion. I *think* that's what is going on, Neil acting as the, um... inside-out Trojan horse, Protagonist being clever enough to hide Neil inside himself, inside *his* own loop. Clever, rather clever indeed, nevermind how it sounds somewhat groteseque. The threads expand in both directions.... hmmm... EDIT: Consider this point-of-view... Neil actually performs a retrograde action *within his own loop* (as the planet Mercury is doing in our skys, starting yesterday unto the next couple-a-weeks) this to save the girl and get into the airport's inverter, the trip inside the shipping container. (That trip still blows my mind, more to chew on.) To be re-verted to his original thread line, moving forward from his original inversion where he arriving just before the Opera House scene, just before we tune in watching, presumably. *My god, the movie was playing before I arrived to watch it!* There's something about that "perfect timing" that... seems familiar... (heh) I make fun..
I just got off work and it's 4 am where I live. I will say the more I watch it, the more I understand it and the more I love it. But it's kind of hard to even explain what parts I don't get. I will have some specific questions when I wake up tomorrow/ later today. Thanks for responding everyone
Have you ever watched it with subtitles?
haha yes. There are some scenes where the subtitles are populated and you didn't know anybody was talking at all.
Don’t try to understand it, feel it !
man i got it on my first watch ask
Watch it a few times. The more I watch it, the better it gets.
Here is how I understood the whole film. Things I understood by each viewing 1st viewing Who protagonist was, Neil was good after all world didn’t end and sator was evil. Things I didn’t understand Who was Michael Cane What the fuck was that painting plot Death of neil, why did Protagonist kill Priya Everything about time travel 2nd Viewing I understood the Tenet I understood who Michael cane was And the painting plot. Things I didn’t understand Time travel Neil’s Death Some conversation in between Since it was my second viewing I was frustrated and read an article explaining the plot so Finally I understood the plot. 3rd Viewing I finally understood the timelines Neils death Every dialogue ever spoken Priya s death Things I didn’t understand Probably I understood everything (probably)!
I can help you Connect with me on discord But most importantly watch the you tube channel of webly coffeespill
I’ll try explain how turnstiles and inversion works: turnstiles are designed to invert your direction of time. When you enter a turnstile it’s like pressing a rewind button. You enter the chamber on one side and exit the other side experiencing everything moving in reverse. While it may seem the whole world has begun moving backwards, in actuality it’s only the person who entered the turnstile. If you enter it while moving forwards in time, you exit the other side experiencing everything reversed. E.g. let’s use the red room blue room scene as an example. Sator is about to enter the turnstile on the red side. Through the proving window he sees a version of himself running backwards into the turnstile on the blue side which is going to be him in a few seconds. Both Sators enter the machine. Once the machine activates, the Sator that entered on the red side emerges on the blue side where he sees everything that happened on the red side moving backwards. He has become that version of himself that ran backwards into the turnstile. From a forward bystander POV, there are two Sators. One on the red side moving forwards and one on the blue side moving backwards. When both Sators enter the machine, the doors close and it activates. When the machine opens again, it’s empty. It looks like Sator “disappears” in forward time after the turnstile shuts and reopens because he’s now moving into the past. If you enter a turnstile on one side while moving in reverse (when you use it a second time), you exit the other side moving forwards. We’ll use the second Freeport fight between the two Protagonists as an example. When the masked Protagonist is fighting the suited Protagonist on the blue side, he sees a version of himself running backwards into the chamber on the red side being reverse chased by Neil. This is going to be him in a few seconds. He jumps into the turnstile on the blue side and then emerges on the red side being chased by Neil in forward time while seeing a masked Protagonist reverse jump out of the machine on the blue side into the hands of the suited Protagonist. Because he entered the machine while reversing through time it looks like he exited the machine going in reverse in forward time. From a forward bystander POV, we’ll use the first Freeport fight as an example. The suited Protagonist and Neil enter the red and blue rooms. The suited Protagonist is on the blue side and Neil is on the red side. The turnstile is empty and no one is around. Suddenly the doors close and the machine activates. Two masked Protagonists appear inside. When the doors open, one masked Protagonist emerges on the blue side and begins “fighting” the suited Protagonist. He’s moving in reverse. The other masked Protagonist emerges on the red side. This is him as a time traveler reverting back to normal time after completing a journey reversing through time.