Film review: ‘OPPENHEIMER’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s biopic of the so called ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’, J. Robert Oppenheimer, has for some, been one of the most anticipated films of the year, both for its subject matter and because it’s from one of the most compelling and occasionally perplexing filmmakers of recent times. For the most part, this mix of historical epic and intimate personal drama justifies the feverish expectations but as an intense and cerebral three-hour film, it won’t be too all tastes.
Robert Oppenheimer was an esteemed American physicist who, in 1942, amid fears of the Nazi’s developing a nuclear weapon, was called upon to lead the project to create an atomic bomb for the Allies. The Manhattan Project (so-called because the project’s original headquarters were in Manhattan even though the bomb was built in Los Alamos, New Mexico) brought together some of the most brilliant scientific minds of the 20th century such as Ernest Lawrence and Enrico Fermi among many others as they worked to develop a nuclear fission device conceived in part from Einstein’s theory of special relativity. That bomb was never used against Nazi Germany but instead against Imperial Japan at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki three days later. Its use essentially marked the end of the Second World War but the beginning of the Cold War over which stood the spectre of nuclear annihilation.
While meticulously depicting the lead-up to the bomb’s detonation, Oppenheimer largely focuses on the febrile and paranoid post-war period and in particular the revered Professor’s fall from grace as his call for arms control, opposition to the USA’s attempts to create an even more powerful H bomb, his communist links and fraught personal life made him a target for shadowy government and military figures looking to put him in his place.
From the first frame, Nolan gives Oppenheimer’s story an ominous urgency and tension. He makes masterful use of rapid-fire editing and atmospheric music to create a sense of growing threat. Those fascinated by Oppenheimer himself, this paradigm shifting piece of history and Nolan’s film making technique will be enraptured from beginning to end.
This is, however, a very dialogue heavy film and apart from the bomb test, it’s almost entirely composed of tense discussions. Nolan occasionally weaves in impressionistic images of nuclear fission and fusion with storms of colliding sparks and solar maelstroms but this film doesn’t have Inception’s startling dreamscapes or Interstellar’s scenes of alien worlds. Consequently, those not already intrigued by the subject or enamoured of Nolan’s methods may find this film a long three hours.
Even they, however, couldn’t deny the quality of acting here as we’re treated to a collection of superb performances from a remarkable all-star cast. Cillian Murphy is clearly an early Oscar contender as he brings a wonderful enigmatic quality to the brilliant but soft-spoken professor and appears to have lost a lot of weight to achieve Oppenheimer’s slightly skeletal look. Importantly, he doesn’t make the scientist out to be saint. He’s often very cunning, aloof and arrogant, something which antagonises powerful colleagues but Murphy still convinces us that Oppenheimer was a sternly moral man tormented with regret about his part in such mass destruction. Among the other cast members, Matt Damon is terrific as General Leslie Groves who recruits Oppenheimer and struggles to reconcile military duty and his friendship with the scientist. There are also impressive contributions from a cosmetically aged Robert Downey Jr as Atomic Energy Commission head Lewis Strauss, Josh Hartnett as Oppenheimer’s more confident and outgoing experimental physicist friend, Ernest Lawrence, Kenneth Branagh as a dignified Niels Bohr and Gary Oldman as an intimidating and contemptuous President Truman. In the midst of the boys’ club, Emily Blunt also makes a strong impression as Oppenheimer’s biologist wife Kitty while Aussie Jason Clark again impresses as the relentless special counsel Roger Robb who was sat in judgement of Oppenheimer.
The sea of familiar faces and the way the film jumps around between different time periods – sometimes signalled by different film stocks – occasionally recalls Oliver Stone’s JFK but thankfully this is a much more convincing look at past events.
The film touches on the philosophical question of whether creating and using the bomb was justified; the 200,000 deaths and horrors wreaked on Hiroshima and Nagasaki appeared to convince Oppenheimer otherwise. More broadly, the film and saga of the bomb cause us to reflect on both the virtues and threats of human achievement and science, which are still vexing issues given the impact of fossil fuel driven industrialised society and more recently the potential dangers posed by AI. In an interview, Christopher Nolan mentioned that AI experts to whom he had spoken said now was their Oppenheimer moment. Above these philosophical debates, however, this is a character study and ultimately a fascinating one.
Oppenheimer is a slightly taxing film, any slip in concentration and viewers could lose the thread of the story but as far as ‘event cinema’ goes this year it will be hard to top.
Nick’s rating: ****
Genre: Drama/ History/ Biopic.
Classification: MA15+.
Director(s): Christopher Nolan.
Release date: 20th July 2023.
Running time: 180 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.