As soon as I saw the trailer for "Oppenheimer," I knew that it was the type of movie that I really wanted to see.
My girlfriend and I went to the movies together yesterday for the first time in well over three - possibly even four - years, since before the pandemic. It was this movie which we went to see.
Now, this is a three hour movie. And much of it - most of it, frankly - is dialogue. So it might not be the kind of movie that will grab audiences in this day and age. This is unfortunate, because frankly, this was a very good movie, and should be seen (and hopefully understood) by everyone.
So let me make a confession here, before I go into more detail about this movie. Going into it, I was not sure what to think about Oppenheimer, the man. In my own mind, I was unsure as to whether he was more of a hero, someone to be admired, or perhaps more of sinister character, a man who, in his own words, had "become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Here's the thing: you learn a lot about Oppenheimer, as well as the challenges, and the ultimate triumph - IF a triumph is what it truly was - in developing "the bomb." You also truly do feel as if you are catching a glimpse of what it was like back in those days, particularly the end of World War II, and the post-war world in the years after, the beginning of the "Atomic Age." Yet, I still am not sure what to think of Oppenheimer as a man.
This movie is great. You really feel like you are seeing Los Alamos during the time of the Manhattan Project. The scenery in the movie - from Europe to the Southwestern desert to the college campuses - is visually pleasing. The acting is wonderful, even off the charts in some cases. Emily Blunt looks less like a beautiful actress, and actually does convince you - at least for the duration of the movie - that she is Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer. Robert Downey, Jr. is amazing as Lewis Strauss, making a convincing character arc from seeming likeable Oppenheimer ally to petty and vindictive villain towards the end. And above all, Cillian Murphy is stunning as the title character, portraying J. Robert Oppenheimer, putting on an unbelievable performance. Or perhaps I should say, a believable performance, because you feel as if you are seeing Oppenheimer, the man, himself. Just incredible!
In many respects, this is the story of humanity, of our triumphs, of our paradoxes, and of our self-inflicted defeats. We see them achieving some incredible things, scaling unprecedented academic heights and scoring some stunning, life-altering technological achievements. Yet, we also see a lot of pettiness and selfishness, as well as presumptuousness and arrogance, and by many of the people portrayed on the silver screen. Plus, this is largely based on history, so it has more than just a grain of truth to it. Indeed, it demands us to give some thought to serious, weighty issues in our modern age, and this modern age of ours, arguably, really got going because of Oppenheimer, who has been described as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb." So in a very real sense, Oppenheimer and his team at Los Alamos, New Mexico, very much brought into being this modern, "atomic age" which we are living in.
This movie does everything that I really want in a movie. It educates about events, informs about the people and a historical era in time, it entertains and, ultimately, it challenges the viewer to think about things. Oppenheimer was a very complex man, and the era in which this movie takes place - from the time leading up to World War II, through the war, and then in the post-war "Red Scare" version of the United States at the height of the Cold War, and even offering glimpses of a bit beyond that, in the sixties.
It challenges the viewer to look at the paradoxes of the man and of the age, how Oppenheimer could at once be regarded as both a hero and a villain, a highly disciplined and brilliant man of science, and yet also simultaneously a man who displays outrageous decadence in his personal life, ridiculous ego and, ultimately, a naiveté that helped lead to a demise of sorts. Oppenheimer blindly pursued the goal of developing the bomb by justifying the necessity of developing it before the Nazis did, then simply shrugging this rationale off when he continued developing the bomb after Hitler had killed himself and Nazi Germany had surrendered, and his hubris also allowed him to assume that he might remain influential in the development and use of nuclear weapons and energy after he developed the bomb, only to see it hijacked by politicians and the military industrial complex. And it allows us to view those times, of course, which were somehow simpler in certain respects, yet had multiple layers which come into focus. There are questions regarding the trustworthiness of allies during the war (most obviously Russia/the Soviet Union), with political power games by the United States and a certain arrogance and entitlement that blinded them to the reality of the inevitability of the Soviet Union becoming the next nuclear power. Domestically, we see the paranoia of the "Red Scare" being obviously manipulated for political leverage by cynical and self-serving individuals. We see scientists - not only Oppenheimer - regretting having been used for such destructive purposes, and then tossed aside when objections as to the use of their inventions get in the way of politicians and the military.
Ultimately, this is what movies are supposed to do and what they are supposed to be, in my opinion. They should keep us entertained, and if they inform and/or educate (as this one does), all the better. You can marvel at the special effects - apparently, Christopher Nolan as least claims that there is no CGI at all here, which would be amazing, particularly given the explosions of the bomb - or you can have deep discussions afterward with somebody who also saw the movie, because each viewer may get something very different. This is a very important movie about an enormously significant time period in this country's history, and it does have some clear significance to our own times. I would strongly urge the reader to go and see this movie, and in theaters, if possible, to support movies like this. It was so refreshing seeing a "big" and highly anticipated summer movie (maybe not quite a blockbuster, but still) which has nothing to do with superheroes and is not another mindless action movie, and which both entertains while getting us to think. There should be more such movies like this one!
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