This biographical, political thriller film tells the story of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, co-creator of the atomic bomb, and his later response to the development of the bomb.
OPPENHEIMER. Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Matt Damon. Also, Robert Downey Jr., Kenneth Branagh, Florence Pugh, and Gary Oldman. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Rated MA15+. Restricted. (Strong sex, and a suicide scene). 180 min.
Review by Peter W Sheehan, Jesuit Media Australia
This film biographically addresses a controversial person in American history – Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), who shares responsibility for the development of the atomic bomb detonated by the US over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 during WWII, and a second atomic bomb that was dropped three days later over the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
Oppenheimer was a brilliant theoretical physicist and wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory in the US. He had a prime role in “The Manhattan Project” which developed the weaponry that was used. While not solely responsible for the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer is largely credited to be the father of the atomic bomb, and the bomb is widely assumed to be his creation. The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer”, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, which was published in 2005.
Irish actor, Cillian Murphy, delivers a deeply moving performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Matt Damon convincingly plays Army General Leslie Groves, who was the chief Project overseer for The Manhattan Project. The film used real explosives to recreate the ferocity of the bomb blast, so as not to employ computer-generated graphics. Scenes of the blast are extraordinarily vivid, and impactful and they focus on the testing of the atomic bomb, not its actual deployment.
The film explores Oppenheimer’s ties to the communist party and the espionage activities in which he was reputedly involved. Oppenheimer thought that the atomic bomb was immensely powerful, but he went ahead to create it: he didn’t know if the US could be trusted with the weapon, but he was certain that the Nazis couldn’t. His wife, Katherine (Emily Blunt) was seriously concerned about his developing the bomb, and conflicts existed among a number of the scientists with whom Oppenheimer worked. Oppenheimer knew there was a slight chance that the bomb’s blast could ignite the earth’s atmosphere, but he nevertheless moved ahead. Most of the film’s locations are accurate depictions of real events and places in Oppenheimer’s life, and much of the film’s plot is communicated from Oppenheimer’s point of view.
Oppenheimer’s reservations about the moral consequences of what he did are especially well captured by Cillian Murphy, as he came to realise (and also “argue” in the subsequent security-clearance attempts which aimed to discredit him) that it was necessary to control the power that he had created. The film’s imagery and the political, intelligent nature of its scripting motivates viewers to reflect seriously upon the horrors of nuclear war. At a personal level, both Oppenheimer’s daughter and his ex-lover tragically suicided, and history records Oppenheimer as a martyr to McCarthyism.
This fast-paced film powerfully conveys the consequences of using atomic weaponry, and is a thoroughly absorbing account of American political history. The film is appropriately grim and has remarkable visuals. With intelligent and sharp scripting, it makes it impossible not to relate the atomic bomb’s impact to contemporary threats of nuclear war. The film has strong moral relevance. It doesn’t judge Oppenheimer; instead, it focuses on his experience. Under Nolan’s fluid, expert direction, and Murphy’s outstanding acting, it tells us unequivocally that nations should never use nuclear weaponry, whatever might be the reason for their wanting to do so.
Peter W Sheehan is a Research Associate of Jesuit Media