Oppenheimer

Solar flares, dreaming of the fires of hell, black and white mixed with color, and explosive visuals all have a purpose in creating Oppenheimer, and Nolan spares no detail. He sheds light on a period in which paranoia and outspoken loyalties to communism, the far left, and critical thinkers, were impassable roadblocks for intellectuals. In a world of changing political structures and the introduction of an arms race, something that even today is only a click away from initiating, these could look grim.

We follow Oppenheimer throughout his education and work, starting in Cambridge, the California Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley, and Los Alamos. All the while, he was meeting all those who would surround him in his appointment by Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves (Matt Damon) to create an atomic bomb. But besides the work at hand, Nolan goes deep into Oppenheimer’s life from his affair with communist Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) and marriage to Kitty (Emily Blunt). It was not easy or ideal.

“…a classic…”

However, the focus on Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), whose story is nonlinear and in black and white throughout, is the centerpiece. Due to an outstanding performance by Downey Jr. and the dedication of Murphy to his character, Oppenheimer becomes a classic tale of jealousy and insider maneuvering on the grand scale of government influence. Even Einstein plays a part. As the Atomic Energy Commission chairman, Strauss used every possible angle to have Oppenheimer charged with being a Soviet spy, thus keeping him from security clearance. Because of built-up empathy for the title character, this is not only a tough watch, but one wonders how much worse it was. The actors were all pushed to their very best, and it works.

Nolan throws down the reality of power, war, and distrust and indirectly relates to our current times of change. At the same time, Oppenheimer maintains composure even in the disgust of Kitty and with all the warnings and understandings of his science and theorists who stood by him. At one point, the audience was so enthralled in Strauss’s confirmation hearing tactics and Washington, D.C. gameplaying that my small hometown independent theater, the Magic Lantern Cinema in Sun Valley, Idaho, was utterly still and silent. Everyone was engaged entirely on the same level, a rare occurrence. Oppenheimer finally gets his just due many years later, and Strauss falls to the wayside, not confirmed for the cabinet position he felt justly warranted. Yet, Nolan leaves us all with the question of our future as our world is changing by the minute.

Oppenheimer has a more prominent theme in the works. Through all the detail and understanding of the Manhattan Project and how it changed the playing field for weapons of mass destruction, the man must fight his Promethean struggle, having taken fire from the gods and given it to those who will eventually misuse it. His battle was never won, but his work hailed in time in Memorium, so I will probably think of Oppenheimer the next time I gaze at the night sky.