TENET Opening Explained: Opera Scene And Train Yard Breakdown

TENET Opening Explained: Opera Scene And Train Yard Breakdown. We recap and explain all the things you missed in the introduction of Christopher Nolan's Tenet (2020) to outline what is really happening and how it sets up the rest of the movie.

#TENET #TenetExplained #ChristopherNolan #TheProtagonist #Movies #2020

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Ok so due to the timey wimey wibbly wobbly nature of Tenet the opening is arguably one of the most confuddling things ever put to film. Who is The Protagonist working for, why do the SWAT team members turn on him? What happens to the algorithm and what the hell is everyone saying?

Well we're gonna be breaking it all down and answering some of the big questions to clear up any confusion.

If this is your first time here then welcome back to the Heavy Spoilers I'm your host Paul (reversed) now let's get into the breakdown.

Ok so whilst I normally tend to do Ending Explaineds, because of Tenet's plot structure and time manipulation, I think it's actually fitting that this is the first film that I break down the opening of.

Throughout the movie we're told that ignorance is a weapon and at almost every major plot point in the movie, The Protagonist has absolutely no idea what's going on.

This is very much the case with the audience too and Nolan purposely drops us in at the deep end so that like the lead, we have little to no idea what's going on. Now up top this is happening at the exact same moment that the mission at Stalsk-12 is and across the timeline a version of both Neil and The Protagonist are storming Sator's forces in order to get an already completed algorithm.

However here the characters have not lived through that moment and are thus having to help it be collected so that Sator can assemble it in order for them to steal and then seperate it at Stalsk-12.

If we look at the Neil we meet at this point he saves the Protagonists life, meets him in India and the two then go through the airport scene, highway chase and invert in order to go back to this point in time so that they can stop the Algorithm from being dumped. The movie itself is a Palindrome and the moment that it opens at is also the place that it's final action scene takes place.

Now Neil is aware of his mission from the off whereas The Protagonist that we follow is not. He is currently working for the CIA and was tipped off that there would be an attack at the Opera house which would allow him and his team to slip in and make contact with Ukrainian high official known as The Well Dressed Man.

Before the real SWAT Team even arrive, both The Protagonist's forces and one half of Sator's wait in a van for them to show up so that the former team can slip in and meet this contact in order to get the package. The CIA are actually being duplicitous here and they plan to work with Sators men but double cross them in order to get the well dressed man so that they can gain intel from him.

► Artist Attribution
Artwork @mb0sco

► Artist Attribution
Music By: "KaizanBlu"
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)

[heavyspoilers]

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[RShadow]

Here is my full breakdown of the opera and train-yard scenes in TENET:

From The Well-Dressed Man’s perspective, he had been tasked with obtaining a “package” from a Ukrainian high official, and his mission is to then hand it off to the CIA. We join him as he is seen celebrating with the high official by attending an orchestra performance at the Kiev Opera House on the 14th. It can be assumed that the exchange had happened at the opera house, for the package is in the WDM’s spot at the coat check. It should also be noted that the high official had been in communication with the WDM (for an unknown amount of time) not knowing he is an undercover CIA agent.

From the CIA’s perspective, they have gained intel that there is going to be a terrorist attack on the Kiev Opera House on the 14th. Because this is the same day their contact, the WDM, is making the exchange, they think either the terrorists may be working independently and found out about the exchange (because they may have their own interest in the WDM and the package), or the Ukrainian high official may be behind the attack in some way (perhaps he uncovered that the WDM is indeed an undercover CIA agent). The CIA is basically then operating on “do not trust anybody” because to them, the high official, terrorists, and even the Ukrainian SWAT (who could be following orders from the high official) could all possibly be playing an intricate role in this attack.

From The Protagonist’s point of view, he is going in thinking it’s a standard CIA mission. He knows that he and a group of special ops are tasked with going to the opera house and meeting up with a group of private Ukrainians to survey the building. Their mission is to save and escort The Well-Dressed Man, and then bring him and the package back to base. Remember, at this point they are basically told to suspect and trust no-one inside the opera house besides the WDM, which makes sense.

The Ukrainian SWAT is called in when the terrorists start the attack, and they think it is indeed just a terrorist attack that they need to stop. With this, it can be assumed that the Ukrainian SWAT is NOT in on the attack or following any orders from the high official.

From Sator’s POV, he has been informed, (how is unknown) that the Plutonium piece of the Algorithm is in the hands of The Well-Dressed Man, and this man will be attending a performance at the Kiev Opera House on the 14th. Through posterity or through the same intel the CIA received, Sator knows that there will be a terrorist attack at the opera house on the 14th. This sets Sator’s plan in motion. Sator uses a group of his men to disguise themselves as Ukrainian soldiers. These men are then split into two groups. The first group is tasked with capturing the WDM and the Plutonium. The second group is tasked with planting bombs around the auditorium that will blow up the cheap seats, thus covering their tracks and destroying evidence linking their group to any part in the attack.

The terrorists true affiliation is the most vague. To me, I don’t really think we the audience are supposed to know who they are officially with. It’s very possible they could be working for Sator, or they could be working for the Ukrainian high official, or they could just be independent terrorists who also happen to be after the WDM (remember, their attack on the opera house the same day of the WDM’s exchange cannot be a coincidence). Each theory is just as equally possible, believe me I’ve broken down each one, so it’s best to just leave them as a vague group of bad guys after the WDM and the Plutonium.

Now let’s get to the attack itself: the terrorists storm the auditorium and immediately take the audience hostage. The Ukrainian SWAT is notified, and that gives the CIA team the signal that it’s time to move in. It’s also important to note that TP seems to be suspicious of the Ukrainians in the van. Remember, he’s taking “trust nobody” very seriously, even outside the opera house. The CIA team breaches and blends in with the Ukrainian SWAT with the intent of reaching The Well-Dressed Man, protecting him, securing the package, and bringing him and the package back to the CIA. TP reaches the WDM and immediately takes out the high official. TP and the WDM exchange code words, now knowing they are both CIA. TP states, “You’ve been made, this siege is a blind for them to vanish you.” Remember, in TP’s eyes he is following CIA intel and suspects the attack was orchestrated against the WDM (regardless of which parties are actually involved). By then saying “But I established contact, ” the WDM clearly expresses his confidence that he was in with the high official so there’s no way his cover could have been blown, that there’s no way anyone else found out about the exchange, and that even the exchange itself had already took place smoothly. TP then states, “bring you in or kill you, I have two minutes, make up your mind.” TP says this because he suspects the SWAT are coming to kill the WDM. Because he is disguised as SWAT, TP would have no choice but to kill the WDM to prevent his cover from being blown. WDM agrees, and they then swing down to the auditorium where TP notices SWAT members planting bombs (remember, these are actually Sator’s men, as were the group of SWAT who were gunning down terrorists in the hallway and making their way to the WDM). His suspicions with the Ukrainians are confirmed, and he also decides not to trust the private Ukrainians in the van anymore. Because of this, TP has WDM swap clothes with one of the other CIA guys (who in TENET’s screenplay is nicknamed Target). This is done so the WDM can safely escape with the rest of the CIA team, through the sewers, with the package, and make it back to base. TP and Target can then collect the bombs, save the audience, and make it back to the van to confront the Ukrainians (remember, TP and the CIA team know the Ukrainians in the van are expecting a passenger). They do most of this successfully, but there is one problem...

The Ukranium guys in the van are also secretly working with Sator, and they were just pretending to be private Ukrainian ops helping the CIA survey the opera house. These Sator mercenaries knew that the CIA team were going to go in and try to rescue the WDM and secure the Plutonium, and if they did, they would come back to the van with the WDM and Plutonium as discussed. The mercenaries thought that in this case, they would then be able to kill the CIA team, and secure the Plutonium for Sator. Though, as mentioned earlier, TP noticed the SWAT traitors and switched the WDM with Target. When the two go back to the van, the mercenaries instantly realize Target is not the WDM, resulting in them getting attacked, leading to the train-yard sequence.

Once you know the guys at the train-yard are Sator’s men, the rest of it becomes pretty clear. Sator’s men interrogate TP and Target to find out where the CIA team along with the “package” is, but TP ends up taking Target’s cyanide pill. Though, it turns out this pill is a fake (it actually acts as a sedative) that was given to Target by TENET, who had distributed these pills to large sums of operatives to test them for recruitment into TENET.

When it comes to how the Plutonium ends up back in Ukraine’s hands, this is something that isn’t explained. Though, this is how I think it went down: So when Agent and the WDM swap clothes, Target and TP go back to the auditorium to collect the bombs and so on, while the WDM and the rest of the CIA team take the sewer tunnels to escape safely with the Plutonium. My take on it is that the remainder of Sator’s SWAT tracked down and followed the CIA team through the tunnels, leading to a shootout outside of the opera house. I think Sator’s men killed the entire CIA team, and just when they were about to recover the Plutonium, the real Ukrainian SWAT showed up due to the commotion. I think another shootout took place, but this time Sator’s men were able to escape but couldn’t take the Plutonium with them. This led to the Ukrainians recovering the Plutonium and transporting it to a long-term nuclear storage depot in Trieste for safe-keeping.

[charlienee]

I hope that in the future this masterpiece gets the recognition it deserves

[oussamabr]

Tenet has everything that makes The Matrix the greatest movie in my eyes.
Breath taking action? Check
Complex plot to obsess about for years to come? Check
High sci-fi concept? Check
Philosophical themes? Check

[shakyjak]

"If this is your first time here then welcome back to the heavy spoilers show"

Niiiice

[rawonfeng]

I'm worried that Christopher Nolan's next film you'll need PhD in physics in order to watch it

[TheTruthWholeTruthNothingButTh]

I hate that i keep watching tenet explain videos even though its just me staring at a screen for 10 minutes and then moving onto meme compilations.. ONE DAY I WILL UNDERSTAND -_- ONE DAY..

[Copycat_YT]

I had to read the script to understand who said "You dont need to kill these people" as on my first watch I was really confused about what was going on aswell. It turns out the Protagonist was the one saying it so from my understanding Sator set up this entire siege just to get to the well dressed man and therefore algorithm. If you think about it the only reason the Protagonist put his past self in this situation is to ensure there was a way to make it look like he was dead essentially ensuring that nothing will get in the way of the mission. The only scene in the movie that confuses me is when the Protagonist buys the burner phone and calls his CIA contact... Wouldnt they have thought he was dead too if the Tenet organization is that mysterious??

[kukuricapica]

I can't wait for this movie building a legendary status. It's almost as this movie is real live inverted. We analyze this movie backwards and with each viewing we use information that we have learned to futher analyze this movie thus making it more and more interesting. I'm fully convinced that this movie was specifically made to be watched multiple times. I think that this movie should have two reviews..one for the 1st impression and other real review after watching it multiple times.

[cfosburg]

5:46 The protagonist seems to be the natural kryptonite for Sator. Since his opening scene at the Opera House, the protagonist seems to foil Sator’s plans. Later when the protagonist meets Kay, Sator thinks he will ‘take care’ of him at the restaurant, as he has obviously done countless times before to others (like Arepo). But the protagonist does live and beats the crap out of Sator’s men.

The ‘early version’ protagonist gets the ‘well dressed man’ out of the Opera, with the piece of the algorithm/plutonium.

Ironically/un-ironically, this was the last piece Sator needed to build the algorithm. Without the ignorant intervention of ‘the ‘early protagonist’ Sator may verily well have been successful, and the ‘early protagonist’ would have been none the wiser.

This is the catalyst event that connects everything together. It collides the ‘early protagonist’ with Sator’s world and that of Tenet.

The piece of the algorithm at the opera house is the same piece of the algorithm that the ‘early protagonist’ goes after, (in that incredibly well executed heist), once again, allied with Sator. And once again, he tries to double cross Sator and his men.

Priya also confirms that the piece of the algorithm is the same one at 50:10mins into the movie. You also learn she did not know the ‘early protagonist’ was part of the CIA mission - interesting side note.

241 is a reference to 241 Plutonium, which is the front for pieces of the algorithm. Not just the last piece of the algorithm.

The car chase is a pivotal moment for the ‘early protagonist’ this is when he is confronted with the reality of the turn styles, temporal pincers, and the practical application of inversion. He is extremely adept at picking up the concepts of Tenet, but he is still learning. It is through the ‘early protagonist’s’ failures that he learns the most about the principles that govern the universe of Tenet. Each failure brings him closer to more fully understanding the rules of inversion, how to manipulate them, and use them to his advantage.

At the end of the story, the early protagonist’ becomes the ‘experienced protagonist’, and he is almost ready to create the organization of Tenet, and will eventually become ‘The Protagonist’ the mastermind behind Tenet.

“Ignorance is our ammunition”

[tylerstinson]

I’m loving all the Tenet videos. It’s definitely a very re-watchable movie. One of my favorites for sure.

[BunderChowed]

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

See you next week for the next Tenet video ;)

[quacktony]

I have to say, for Neil to risk going all the way back in time to ensure the events go off as they were suppose to...thats one long ass mission...

[andysiegel]

I recall there is a line from Priya later in the film that Sator’s men got the team, but the 241 got in the hands of the government. That’s why it’s being transported to facility in Trieste via Tallinn.

[saikathghosh]

In the theater I had the best experience of this scene, the theme was so loud.

[bunky]

I love having this movie on Blu-ray now. I've watched it several times & it's great to watch it again after seeing another one of your videos. The fact that some people are so turned off by Tenet is humorous. Only Christopher Nolan could make a movie so layered with complexity, it takes repeated viewings to fully comprehend what is happening.

[hudsonhorizons]

My mind was blown after learning that piece of wall was from Stalsk-12 🤯

[BobbyTreacle]

Doesn’t Priya mention that the Ukraine government got hold of the algorithm piece from the opera house siege. And that it’s the same part of the Algorithm from the truck heist.

[WobblesandBean]

"I was an actor in a Christopher Nolan film!"
"Oh yeah? What'd you do?"
"I, uh...pretended to be asleep. Just one face among thousands."

[jmchrstphr]

Tenet is one of the few movies that I watch on repeat. Still confused about to story, but trying to understand it everytime I watch it again. Thank you, Heavy Spoilers for your videos!