Hidden Details We All Missed In Tenet

The Protagonist pull-ups

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When the Protagonist fails in his mission at the Kyiv Opera House, the film draws us into his daily activities at the wind farm. Part of his routine includes pull-up exercises. The film later depicts him doing the pull-ups before their pincer movement to Sator's army. These details reveal that the Protagonist's future self is inverted, a clue into the film’s narrative structure.

The use of red and blue

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The film uses blue and red colors in many of its scenes. At the turnstile room, where we understand how the time-inversion machine operates, the temporal pincer movement shows that it is denoted in red when time moves forward. When time moves backward, it is blue. Check the red Warner Bros logo at the beginning and the blue Syncopy logo at the film's end.

Oblivious characters

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One of the confusing moments in the film lies in the characters’ inability to understand themselves. Neil and the Protagonist had two versions of themselves during the same timeline. However, the events reveal that their inverted versions knew precisely where they were on that timeline and avoided confronting those oblivious versions.

The word ‘Sator'

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The Sator Square gives us five names that intrigue audiences. The Latin words Sator, Arepo, Tenet, Opera, and Rotas stand for intriguing historical and folkloric truths. In the film, 'Sator' is the name of the villain, 'Arepo' is the artist who collides with Kat to sell fake art collections, 'Tenet' is the film's name, 'Opera' in the opening scene, and 'Rotas' is the Freeport security company.

Sator's fake suicide pill

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When the villain Sator contemplates suicide, he claims he borrowed the cyanide pill from the CIA. Theories suggest that it was the same pill that the Protagonist ingested when he was being captured. Is Sator unaware that the pill was fake? Perhaps. It means that Sator was a loser from the beginning because he would be unable to kill himself.

A reversed score

                

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The movie pays attention to overlooked details like the music score. To align with the film’s theme of inversion, score composer Ludwig Göransson ensures that the music is played reversely. Listen to the music in the interrogation scene. During the final battle, the reversed music is played alongside the normal score to indicate the struggle between the inverted soldiers and non-inverted ones.

‘Tenet' spelling

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The film's play with inversion always stays energized. Based on the film's idea about soldiers fighting from two different directions, this battle lasts about ten minutes on both sides. If you spell the word 'Tenet,' you will realize that going forward, there is the word 'Ten,' and backward, there is also 'Ten.' An important clue to the film's events.

The paradox of the past

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Popular notions indicate that changing the past is bound to have consequences for the future. However, when Kat kills Sator in the past, audiences are surprised that there is still another version of Sator doing evil in the future. However, this remains vague because anyone could suggest that the 'killed Sator' was the future one who had his time inverted.

Neil saves the Protagonist

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When the movie gets to the end climax, audiences notice a red string hanging from Neil’s bag. It is important to note that the masked character who saves the Protagonist when the film begins also has a red string hanging from his bag. Theories suggest that perhaps the Protagonist had hired Neil from the future to save him.

The article by Akane Kashiwazaki

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A newspaper report in the film reveals details about the plane crash at the Oslo airport because of Neil and the Protagonist. The article itself is written by Akane Kashiwazaki. The name is popular with Anime enthusiasts because it is a character in the film 'Feel the Wind.' The name also belongs to the second assistant accountant of the film. Check out the credits!

Nolan's breathing

                

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It is common for film directors to include themselves in their films subtly. It is only easily noticed if you watch it keenly. However, Christopher Nolan is not very impressed by cameos. In 'Tenet,' as the score composer Ludwig Göransson reveals, the music score includes Nolan's breathing as part of the track sequence.

Maxwell's thought experiment

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The entire film concerns opposing time movement. The theory is based on Maxwell's daemon thought experiment that is depicted on a whiteboard in Laura's office. Nolan is a physics genius and never withholds his knowledge from the movies he directs. James Charles Maxwell created the theory and suggested how you could violate the second law of thermodynamics.

Parallel Universes

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Years ago, the idea of a parallel universe where time flows backward was popular in news stories. It was probably picked up by Nolan, who consulted physicist Kip Thorne to cultivate the story. He clarifies that this is not a time travel movie but an inversion of time. Normal time movement still flows forward as another one runs back. Could this suggest an alternate universe?

A Gesture Clue

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The first person the Protagonist meets offers audiences a clue on how time will move in the film. By using his hands, he depicts a gesture that suggests a palindrome. Moreover, he tells the Protagonist that he will open the door. We already know the door is the point at which the second law of thermodynamics is broken, and time could be inverted.

Other film references

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Christopher Nolan's fascination with time manipulation has been analyzed in many of his films. 'Interstellar' involves the desire to communicate an important message from the future to the past. Moreover, films like 'Inception' and 'Dunkirk' also involve non-linear narration. Unsurprisingly, theories suggest 'Tenet' is a sequel to one of these films.

Relationship with ‘Memento'

            

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The reversal of time is explored in Nolan's 'Memento,' which shares a more remarkable narrative structure with Tenet. Moreover, the protagonists of both films are unaware of their peculiar conditions, but in the end, it is revealed they were the engineers of the events. In an interview with Complex Magazine in 2020, Nolan suggests the two films are related.

A Twilight world

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When the Protagonist remarks, “We live in a twilight world, and there are no friends at dusk…” the film references a literary significance. The mysterious events in Tenet have been debated over the years, and the complexity of the narrative structure infects us with uncertainty. Indeed, the film is a twilight world, and there can be no unified understanding in the end.

The scene of the Blue sailboat

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When the Protagonist joins Kat and Sator in the blue sailboat early in the film, their antagonism is unveiled. Kat unlatches the harness that sends Sator sprawling into the sea, intending to kill him. In a bid to make Sator trust him, the Protagonist saves him. However, theories suggest that this foreshadows Sator's death in the hands of time-inverted Kat.

Is Neil Kat's son?

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Some fans have a good reason to suggest that Neil could be Kat's son. According to them, Neil, who travels backward in time to save the Protagonist, seems to have an attachment to Kat. Moreover, his knowledge of the Protagonist is more profound than expected. The theory is strengthened by Neil spending time at Kat's bedside when she recovers from an injury.

Ives and Kat

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The no-nonsense commander Ives could offer a counter-suggestion that he is Kat's son. It is not unusual for army officers to take on new names, and Ives may have dropped his initial name, Max. However, this theory faces the glaring problem of phenotype. Unlike Kat's son, Ives does not have blonde hair. He does not bear any striking resemblance to the child in the film.

CIA and 9/11 project

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The 9/11 terrorist attacks were a national disaster. The public could not understand how the national security agencies could not have anticipated it. Rumors abound about a secret CIA project that intended to use time travel to stop the terrorist attack. The Tenet film uses the same idea of time manipulation to stop a war. Note that the CIA director during that period was George Tenet.

The Plane incident

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Nolan has a penchant for the dramatic and barely uses CGI in his films. Tenet was not exceptional. When the Protagonist and Neil crashed the Boeing 747 (notice the palindrome like the one in the title; backward and forward) at the Oslo airport, audiences thought it was special effects. However, the crew bought a real Boeing jet and had it crash!

The Red thread of fate

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In Eastern Asia, some spiritualities suggest an invisible red thread connecting two souls destined to meet, no matter how distant they are. When the masked savior (Neil) rescues the Protagonist, the red string hanging from his bag could symbolize that Neil was always destined to save the Protagonist no matter how things turned out.

The Moscow theatre crisis

       

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In 2002, Chechen resistance fighters held 850 hostages in the Dubrovka theatre in Moscow. Seemingly, the opening scene of ‘Tenet’ highlights an almost similar event. Audiences wonder if the terrorist attack at the Moscow theatre inspired Nolan. The movie begins with a group of terrorists, like the Chechen ones, storming the theatre after a performance and laying a siege.

Perform your stunts

       

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It is clear to most of us now that Christopher Nolan detests CGI, special effects, and anything unreal. The dramatic effect in most of his films is achieved by real performances. The stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson had to perform their stunts themselves. Even the car chase!

James Bond inspiration

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The classical James Bond spy series inspired some of Nolan’s cinematic devices. In an interview with Playboy in 2017, Nolan revealed that he loved the James Bond character and sought to include traces of him in his films. Undoubtedly, the agent Neil in Tenet performs his role with charisma and mannerisms similar to the legendary spy.

Speaking Backward

      

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Some people would say this was a challenging task. The film involves the idea of time inversion, and therefore, subtle details like speech need to be aligned with that goal. The actors in the film had to learn how to speak backward. Kenneth Branagh had to perform this fete using a Russian accent he had to adopt for his role as Sator.

Withholding names

                 

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Why is Tenet's main character called 'The Protagonist'? No one knows why Nolan conceals his name. There may be a sequel to the film that would demand some air of mystery. However, it is not a novel thing for Nolan to do this. Previously in his directing career in 1998, he created a film called 'The Following,' where the main character was identified as 'The Young Man.'

Inspiration from Stanley Kubrick

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The 1964 classic film 'Dr. Strangelove inspired sections of the movie 'Tenet'. The eminent director Stanley Kubrick influenced Nolan's passion in movie-making. Both 'Dr. Strangelove' and 'Tenet' involve a rush in time to save the world from destruction. Moreover, the villains of both films intend to unleash a catastrophe that needs to be stopped.

Different accents

                   

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Determining if actors have nailed the accents in a film keeps audiences debating—a fascinating preoccupation. Nolan's 'Tenet' is no different. Kat, played by Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki, employs an impressive posh English accent. However, British actor Kenneth Branagh is most impressive, playing the role of Andrei Sator in a spectacular Russian accent.