Political Subtext: A Recurring Theme with Hollywood

The main diegesis of the film revolves around the opposing state of time as a past and future concept. The future is symbolized as progress, and the past is symbolized as tradition. The plight of man throughout history has been that of progress against tradition or conservatism. Progress is the willingness to move forward (future), whereas tradition is the unwillingness to move forward (revert to the past).

Here we see the dichotomous nature of the United States' two-party system, with democrats denoting progress and republicans taking the opposing view of tradition.

This notion of progress is highlighted through the main character, played by a Black-American, as he moves forward (progress) in time in an attempt to save the world. Traditionalism, or the past, is depicted through the Russian oligarch, as he travels back (tradition) in time to destroy the world.

Through him, the audience sees traditionalism as vile and bad, as this character is portrayed as emotionally and physically abusive to his wife.

The subtext here is stark, and it's interesting how Nolan pushed this film's release despite the current state of affairs. That is because the film is political in nature and was intended to be shown before elections (note similarities with The Dark Knight, also released shortly before elections).