Page - 61 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/01

scouts sent out to inspect the terrain. In the tale of the spies, God commands Moses to send 12 people from the desert of Paran to Canaan: that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them (Numbers 13:1) […] And see the land, what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not […] and bring of the fruit of the land. (Numbers 13:2, 18–20) The men of the biblical mission, the spies, came back 40 days later, bringing with them the fruit of the land as well as news that the land was good but that the Ca- naanite cities were well fortified and the people that dwelt within it were strong and plentiful. And even though Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun ar- gued vehemently that the children of Israel could inherit the land, all the others opposed them, saying that it is “a land that eateth up the inhabitants hereof” (Num- bers 13:32). In the end, the spies and their whole generation, the desert generation, are punished for their lack of faith by never being allowed to enter the promised land – with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, who do enter it and are even granted domains within it. In the film, the Endurance crew, which consists of Cooper the pilot, Brand’s daughter Amelia, Romilly the physicist, Doyle the geographer, and two artificially intelligent robots named TARS and CASE, embark on the second mission, in effect the “Noah’s ark” mission since it carries the frozen embryos that will replenish the human race, following that of the “spies” who had sent back information about each planet. The Endurance passes through the wormhole and heads towards Millers’ planet (01:00:15). Soon the crew discovers that the extreme gravitational forces this close to the black hole create a severe time dilation which means that every hour spent on the surface of Millers’ is the equivalent of seven years passing on Earth.20 Cooper, Amelia, Doyle, and CASE go down to the surface of the planet only to discover that it is uninhabitable since it is covered in its entirety by a shal- low ocean traversed frequently by giant waves – another consequence of the black hole’s gravitational influence. While Amelia is trying to recover the data collected by Miller, a wave hits the crew, killing Doyle and delaying their departure from the 20 The time dilation described in the film, which accounts for the differences between the passage of time on the spaceship and on the planet’s surface, is in accordance with Einstein’s theory of relativity. See Thorne 2014, 45. 60 | Bina Nir www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/1, 53–69