Oppenheimer
“Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for all eternity” (opening sentence of the film)
Science and its development is what indebted humanity and enabled it to progress and initiate revolutions of smaller or larger scales. Scientists have always been focused on researching and understanding the inexplicable, which most of the population would classify under mystical or “divine,” and they’ve always had deep within them the need to put their discoveries in service of humanity in a positive way. But man is such a being by nature that he’ll find both the creative and destructive side in everything.
Alfred Nobel saw in dynamite the possibility to facilitate construction of roads, railways and tunnels (and is best known for his will, by which he wanted part of the money to be set aside each year from his fund to reward the most important discoveries important for humanity, including the peace prize), but it turned out it can easily facilitate killing people too. The great Nikola Tesla lived for providing humanity with energy for all and easy communication, but some people were also interested in his more mysterious projects (“death ray”).
And there’s Julius Robert Oppenheimer, theoretical physicist, director of the “Manhattan Project,” remembered in history as the “father of the atomic bomb.” This man was engaged in 1942 by the USA to work on developing nuclear weapons, four years after the start of the German nuclear program (Uranverein). In translation, at the height of World War II, the Allied forces must catch up with (and surpass) Nazi forces in who’ll first make a weapon of mass destruction and gain supremacy in the war.
The film “Oppenheimer” is based on the biography “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.” Interestingly, the authors originally started working on this extensive (700+ page) biography way back in 1979 and after exhaustive research and organizing material, it was published in 2005. It’s also interesting that to date (please correct me if I’m wrong), a translation of this work hasn’t been done here (which seems a bit unusual to me that this wasn’t done at least before the film’s premiere here, considering the topic it deals with, as well as the director and cast, which would probably attract the attention of the reading public too… and moreover the book won the “Pulitzer”).
Let me note right at the start that the plot is solidly complex. On one hand you have director Chris Nolan (more on him later) who’s known for his films often having a non-linear narrative (and a bit of “walking” between time periods), and on the other hand a large number of historical figures mentioned, each with their own agenda. And add physics to that. But should this discourage you from the film? Not at all!
Just briefly about the plot of the film “Oppenheimer,” so there aren’t too many spoilers.
On one (“longer” side of the film), we follow Robert Oppenheimer (for friends Oppie) and his path from successful scientist to person who came to head the “Manhattan Project” and how the development of the atomic bomb and its activation proceeded. Then we follow Oppenheimer in the years after the war, when fear of communism and potential spies grew in America (more precisely, American military and political leadership), when the scientist himself came “under fire” for potential connections to communists, as well as that he might have been their agent. And all this culminates in his famous controversial 1954 hearing, when he was denied renewal of his security clearance for access to confidential information of state significance.
The second (“shorter” side of the film) takes us to Lewis Strauss’s hearing before the Senate in 1958. Strauss, successful businessman, philanthropist and officer, was one of the first members of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and one of the more important people in the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power of the USA after World War II. And this hearing concerns Strauss’s nomination by President Eisenhower for Secretary of Commerce, for which he now needs majority Senate support. However, Strauss isn’t sure this will go as smoothly as expected because of some of his moves from the past… and one of them concerns his problematic relationship with Oppenheimer.
The film will give us the opportunity to see what kind of people Oppenheimer came into contact with and how relationships with those people shaped him (if they influenced him at all). Starting with his unusual wife Kitty Oppenheimer (biologist and botanist, once a member of the Communist Party of America), his brother Frank (physicist and rancher, founder of the “Exploratorium”), eccentric and depressive Jean Tatlock (psychiatrist and physicist, communist member until her death, and also Oppie’s mistress), very demanding and eternal critic Colonel Leslie Groves (oversaw the “Manhattan Project” and closely collaborated with Oppenheimer in everything, including construction of the settlement-laboratory Los Alamos… by the way, the man constructed the Pentagon), pragmatic Ernest Lawrence (Nobel Prize winner in physics for his invention), charismatic philosopher and physicist Niels Bohr (also a Nobel laureate), difficult to work with Edward Teller (“father of the hydrogen bomb”), eternally unusual and enigmatic Albert Einstein (it’s enough to say E = mc²) and many other figures of that era.
We’ll learn how Oppenheimer (difficultly) dealt with himself, both during construction of the atomic bomb and after its activation, and later when he became a known public figure, as well as what influenced him to change his position regarding weapons of mass destruction.
And here we’ll stop so as not to reveal too much. 🙂
Now let’s praise the film a bit.
For starters, let’s start with its (previously mentioned) director. Christopher Nolan is truly an unusual specimen in his profession. His films must be unusual and make the viewer turn on their brain a bit. He likes to experiment with non-linear narration and symbolism. You can’t force him at gunpoint to use CGI in films, the man wants everything to be hand-created (believe it or not, there’s no CGI in “Oppenheimer” either) and to film with special cameras (worth half a million dollars… which he also knows how to break during filming some scenes), which is why everything has some specific and special visual mood when watched on the cinema screen (or high-definition TV). And moreover the man knows how to make excellent films (“Batman” trilogy with Christian Bale, “Inception,” “Tenet,” “Interstellar,” “Dunkirk,” “Memento”), and moreover knows how to participate as producer and “iron out” some films to be drastically better. Respect for work done on this film.
Although there’s no CGI, “Oppenheimer” is an excellent visual experience. Everything has some mild retro vibration, and it’s especially interesting to see scenes filmed in black and white format (the director and cinematographer collaborated with “Kodak,” and created a way to film an IMAX film in black and white format). And how they recreated the famous “Trinity Test,” read here. All in all, a delight to watch on the big screen/screen.
The audio element is also very important for the film “Oppenheimer.” Music that (deliberately) drowns out dialogues, “background noise,” dramatic moments of silence, “drumming” in Oppenheimer’s head, explosions, all this contributes to the film’s drama.
And acting… if Nolan calls you to be in his film, you don’t ask about screen time or how much money they’re offering… you just ask “what time should I come?”
The series star is, expectedly, Cillian Murphy as the titular hero. The star of the brilliant series “Peaky Blinders” (whose review I still owe you, but you have a review of this series which is, at least to me, even better) dominated here too and it’s surely one of his best roles, for which he’s getting praise from all sides. It was surely a challenge for the actor to present Oppenheimer who was quite a contradictory personality (on one hand self-controlled, and on the other irrational, naive yet arrogant and, all in all unpredictable), and moreover appears in almost all frames, so this was quite a stressful project for him (and Oppenheimer was constantly under stress anyway, so Murphy was doubly stressed). Serious psychophysical transformation of this actor for the film’s needs. All in all, top-notch acting, and it won’t surprise me at all if there’s an Oscar nomination (if there is one). On the other hand, he’s already collaborated with Nolan before, so he probably knew what awaited him filming “Oppenheimer.” 😀
Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty… This charming actress (“Devil Wears Prada,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Edge of Tomorrow”) can always delight you anew with her talent. She now excellently conveyed Oppenheimer’s wife’s unusual behavior, so much so that you’ll immediately at the film’s start feel repulsion toward this character… which is serious praise, considering it’s hard to feel repulsion toward this graceful and witty actress who constantly jokes on sets of whatever film she’s filming. She’s truly a talented actress.
We shouldn’t forget brilliant Matt Damon either, who excellently got into the role of Colonel Groves, who tries to stay in control although he’s always on the edge of snapping from balancing between Oppenheimer and the rest of the world. This talented Oscar winner with a wide spectrum of roles (“Jason Bourne” trilogy, “Good Will Hunting,” “The Martian,” “Dogma”) fit nicely into the film.
There was no doubt that for Robert Downey Jr. the role of Oppenheimer’s hidden rival Lewis Strauss was quite a challenge, which had nothing to do with his talent. The actor was worried whether he’d manage to emerge from the shadow (and psyche) of Tony Stark (every living film where he appeared as “Iron Man”) and whether the audience would be able to see him in some different version. Apparently there was no need to worry, he did an excellent job of the businessman who tries to always stay calm with a slight smile on his face, who seems like nothing can throw him off track. And with his voice he gave an excellent narrative note to parts of the film.
Many historical figures appear in this film who got varying screen time, but many famous actors still paraded through, so I’d especially touch on Oscar winner Kenneth Branagh (Niels Bohr in the film), Josh Hartnett (Ernest Lawrence), Florence Pugh (Jean Tatlock), Jack Quaid (Richard Feynman), Rami Malek (David Hill), Casey Affleck (Boris Pash), Gary Oldman (Harry Truman) as well as many others.
At the time of writing this review, the film is still “fresh” in cinemas (debuted less than a week ago), so we still have to see what impression it’ll leave on film cinematography. Considering that on a budget of 100 million dollars it’s already earned 200 million dollars so far, “Oppenheimer” is on a solid path to be a commercial success. Although it’s a biographical drama, it has quite a few elements going for it for watching. The topic it covers, the hype this film (as well as the film “Barbie”) is currently followed by, excellent visual presentation and music, a director beloved by many as well as a brilliant cast… all this goes in favor of the film achieving good results, and especially when it also comes to streaming platforms for those who don’t want to sit three hours in a cinema (though it’s worth sitting, because time flies quickly).
But in any case, “Oppenheimer” is a film Christopher Nolan can proudly belt, because he managed through a complex biographical novel (of one complex personality) to tell quite a lot about the dark side of human nature.
From me, a recommendation, and surely one of the best films of 2023. 🙂
And you, dear reader, how much do you know about Oppenheimer and the “Manhattan Project”? 🙂
Film website | Trailer | Imdb | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic
Format: Film | Premiere: 2023 | Runtime: 180 minutes
