Oppenheimer

 

Based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, Oppenheimer is the story of Robert J. Oppenheimer and his role in creating the atomic bomb that would usher in the atomic age as it is told in different periods of time including two different hearings in the 1950s. Written for the screen and directed by Christopher Nolan, the film is an exploration into the life of a man who would help play a role in the destruction of the world as well as struggle with its aftermath that would play into his personal life as Oppenheimer is portrayed by Cillian Murphy. Also starring Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Olivia Thirlby, Benny Safdie, Dane DeHaan, Jason Clarke, Alex Wolff, Devon Bostick, Josh Peck, Michael Angarano, Gary Oldman, and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss. Oppenheimer is a riveting and haunting film from Christopher Nolan.

July 16, 1945 is a day many physicists, scientists, and the world will remember in the project known as Trinity where a weapons test was held in the deserts of New Mexico 200 miles south from the Los Alamos area where many of these scientists would create the atomic bomb. A day that was overseen by J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team as they would create a weapon that had the ability to destroy cities and thus create a world of destruction as it would also set a chain of events leading to the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that went on for nearly 50 years but also terror that would engulf the world in how it can destroy itself. The film is about the man who would help create the atomic bomb as Oppenheimer is a man filled with complications as someone who had theories about quantum physics and what it could do while is also someone with political views that leaned towards communism as it would later get him in trouble in the 1950s as he would endure a hearing in the era of McCarthyism.

Christopher Nolan’s screenplay doesn’t follow a traditional narrative as it is largely non-linear as it focuses on Oppenheimer’s early life, working for the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, his chaotic personal life, post-war life, and two hearings in the 1950s that would also involve Lewis Strauss as the latter revolves around Strauss at a Senate confirmation hearing as it relates to the former who is questioned over being a communist. The script also showcases a world in which Oppenheimer would see things as it relates to quantum physics while also going into a world where he becomes part of a social circle in the late 1920s/1930s involving those with communist views including a young woman in Jean Tatlot (Florence Pugh) whom he would have an on-off affair with while later marrying Katherine Puening (Emily Blunt) who would stick by him despite his affair with Tatlot that would end in the early 1940s. Oppenheimer’s work through quantum physics and its theories that included collaborations with Ernest Lawrence (Josh Hartnett) and Edward Teller (Benny Safdie) as it gets the attention of the American military as they learn about stories of the Nazi Germany creating their own nuclear weapon program under the supervision of German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg (Matthias Schweighofer) whom Oppenheimer met in the 1930s in Switzerland.

Working with General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) and his then subordinate in Lt. Kenneth Nichols (Dane DeHaan), Oppenheimer would work with the military as they chose a remote area in the New Mexico deserts that would become Los Alamos as they also recruited many scientists, theorists, and others to create the atomic bomb. Even as there would be other places around the country including a location in Chicago headed by Enrico Fermi (Danny Deferrari) and David L. Hill (Rami Malek) who would have their own ideas as they would meet with Oppenheimer outside of their respective bases. Nolan would also play into Oppenheimer’s own personal issues as it relates to the fallout of his affair with Tatlot and the chaos in his marriage to Katherine as well as the aftermath of World War II as he becomes the advisor for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission headed by Lewis Strauss only for Oppenheimer’s ideas to restrict nuclear weapon development has him at odds with Strauss who has a storyline about his 1959 Senate confirmation hearing.

Nolan’s direction is definitely stylish as it plays into recurring images of water, stars, and fire that play into the mind of Oppenheimer who thinks about the destruction that he’s created. Shot on various locations at New Mexico, California, New Jersey, and bits of Switzerland on 65mm large-format film and IMAX 65mm film in both color and black-and-white film stock. Nolan creates a film that plays into a world that is ever-changing while using its non-linear narrative to move back and forth into stories that relates to Oppenheimer’s life as well as the 1954 security hearing and Strauss’ 1959 Senate confirmation hearing. Notably as Nolan uses a lot of wide and medium shots to cover the vast look of the locations as well some of the hearings with the latter providing a sense of claustrophobia for Oppenheimer’s hearing as it also include these close-ups that add to the drama. There are also elements of surrealism for scenes at Oppenheimer’s hearing that includes him having to talk about his affair with Tatlot as they’re having sex at the hearing with Katherine watching in horror.

Nolan also maintains this sense of drama as it relates to Oppenheimer’s post-war life and the emergence of the Cold War such as a scene at a posh restaurant that is presented in both black-and-white and color as it relates to mood in how it would affect later events. Notably as Oppenheimer also deals with figures such as Boris Pash (Casey Affleck) and William L. Borden (David Dastmalchian) who would try and discredit Oppenheimer in different periods of time as Nolan’s direction would have his camera not show their faces at first or re-show a shot from a different perspective as it plays into the drama. The Trinity sequence of that famed bombing is among one of the key moments in the film as it is about where the camera is as well as those watching from afar where the bomb is about to drop. There is also this tense moment as the countdown occurs as there is a lot of tension but also moments such as Oppenheimer and General Groves having a moment despite their own differences. It all leads to the bomb exploding as it is a key moment in the film but it is followed in this aftermath including a surreal moment in what Oppenheimer realized what he had created.

Nolan’s approach to the hearings as it has all of this drama where Strauss’ aide (Alden Ehrenreich) pieces everything that Strauss had been talking about as it relates to Oppenheimer. Even as it plays into the drama over Oppenheimer’s past as well as Katherine’s past due to her own brief affiliation with communism where the hearing is this chilling moment where Katherine is being grilled by Roger Robb (Jason Clarke) only for things to backfire. Even as it would parallel with Strauss’ hearing where it would play into some surprising revelations into why he and Oppenheimer had a falling out. Its ending plays to a scene as it relates to Oppenheimer meeting Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) that is shown early in the film but its conversation isn’t revealed until the end. It all relates to a quote about Prometheus and what he brought to the world as it alludes to the troubled legacy that Oppenheimer would bring to the world. Overall, Nolan crafts a gripping yet intoxicating film about the man who would bring the world a weapon that would destroy it.

Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema does phenomenal work with the film’s cinematography with its emphasis on natural lighting for the scenes in Los Alamos and New Mexico including its usage of low-key lighting for the interior scenes at night while the black-and-white footage has a richness that play into the world that Strauss sees. Editor Jennifer Lame does incredible work with the film’s editing as its usage of montages, jump-cuts, and other stylish cut add to the drama as well as the usage of parallel moments in its non-linear narrative as it is a highlight of the film. Production designer Ruth de Jong, with supervising art director Samantha Englender plus set decorators Claire Kaufman, Olivia Peebles, and Adam Willis, does brilliant work with the look of the Los Alamos base including its houses, labs, and the tower where the bomb would drop for the Trinity project as well as the places that the characters lived in including the office where Oppenheimer has his hearing. Costume designer Ellen Mirojnick does excellent work with the costumes that play into the period of the time as well as the suit and Fedora hat that Oppenheimer wears as well as some of the dresses that Katherine and Tatlot would wear.

Prosthetic makeup designer Luisa Abel does terrific work with the makeup effects for a key scene in which Oppenheimer sees a young woman’s skin starting to peel away in a surreal moment as it relates to what Oppenheimer has done. The special effects work of Scott R. Fisher and Laurie Pellard, along with visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson, do amazing work with the visual effects with the usage of practical effects to create the sense of realism in what Oppenheimer sees as well as the explosions in the tests he and his team would create. Sound designer Richard King does remarkable work with the sound in the way certain gadgets would sound as well as the immense explosion of the Trinity bomb as it is a major highlight of the film. The film’s music by Ludwig Goransson is phenomenal for its mixture of eerie orchestral pieces as well as some electronic-based bits as it plays into the dramatic suspense and tension that looms into the film as well as the sense of dread as Goransson’s score is a major highlight of the film.

The casting by John Papsidera is marvelous as it features some notable small roles and appearances from Flora Nolan as the young woman Oppenheimer sees at an event following the Trinity project whose skin gets peeled by the bomb, Danny Deferrari as the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi who works in Chicago, James Remar as the then-Secretary of War in the 1940s in Henry Stimson, Emma Dumont as Oppenheimer’s sister-in-law Jackie, Macon Blair as Oppenheimer’s lawyer during the security hearings in Lloyd K. Garrison, Matthias Schweighofer as the German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg whom Oppenheimer meets in the 1930s, Jack Cutmore-Scott as Security Officer Lyall Johnson, James Urbaniak as the philosopher Kurt Godel whom Oppenheimer would meet in Switzerland, James D’Arcy as the experimental physicist Patrick Blackett whom Oppenheimer studied from at Cambridge back in 1926, Hap Lawrence as U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, Louise Lombard as Teller’s lover Ruth Tolman, Josh Zuckerman as one of Oppenheimer’s first students in Giovanni Rossi Lomanitz, and Gary Oldman in a superb one-scene appearance as U.S. President Harry S. Truman.

In roles as members of the team that helped Oppenheimer in creating the bomb include Michael Angarano as Robert Serber, Devon Bostick as Seth Neddemeyer, Olli Haaskivi as Edward Condon, Alex Wolff as a former student of Oppenheimer in Luis Walter Alvarez, Harrison Gilbertson as Philip Morrison, Jack Quaid as Richard Feynman, Josh Peck as Kenneth Bainbridge who would push the button for the Trinity bomb explosion, Gustaf Skarsgard as German-American physics theorist Hans Bethe, Christopher Denham as Klaus Fuchs who would later revealed to be a spy for the Soviet Union, and Olivia Thirlby as the lone woman in the team in Lilli Hornig who would play a key part in the development of the Trinity Project as they’re all fantastic in their roles with Angarano, Peck, Wolff, and Thirlby being the major standouts.

Other notable key small roles include Matthew Modine as Vannevar Bush who helps create the Manhattan Project, David Krumholtz as Oppenheimer’s friend Isidor Isaac Rabi who is also a physicist who is worried about the moral implications in creating the bomb, Dylan Arnold as Oppenheimer’s younger brother Frank who would help find the site for Los Alamos, Jefferson Hall as Haakon Chevalier as a friend of Oppenheimer with ties to communism, Tony Goldwyn as Gordon Gray as the head judge at Oppenheimer’s hearing, David Dastmalchian as William L. Borden as a government official who would write a letter to the FBI accusing Oppenheimer to be a spy for the Soviet Union, Dane DeHaan as General Groves’ subordinate Kenneth Nichols who would also try to discredit Oppenheimer in the 1950s, and Alden Ehrenreich as Strauss’ senate aide who accompanies Strauss during the hearing while trying to piece together Strauss’ relationship with Oppenheimer.

Tom Conti is excellent as Albert Einstein as the famed physicist/scientist whom Oppenheimer goes to advice over calculations as he would later meet Einstein years later in the 1950s as he laments over what Oppenheimer has created. Jason Clarke is superb as Roger Robb as a prosecutor at Oppenheimer’s hearing who is intent on bringing Oppenheimer and his associates down while Josh Hartnett is fantastic as Ernest Lawrence as a colleague at Berkeley who is aware of what Oppenheimer is creating though the two would later fall out for a time. Benny Safdie is brilliant as Edward Teller as the famed theoretical physicist who is a key figure that collaborates with Oppenheimer as well as coming up with the idea of the hydrogen bomb despite Oppenheimer’s views on nuclear weapons. Kenneth Branagh is amazing in his small role as Niels Bohr as the Danish physicist who is fascinated by Oppenheimer’s theories as he would be a mentor while also getting a look into Oppenheimer’s work.

Rami Malek and Casey Affleck are great in their performances in their respective small roles as physicist David L. Hill and Colonel Boris Pash with the former who worked in Chicago as he would later play a key role at Strauss’ hearing while the latter is a military official who tries to discredit Oppenheimer. Florence Pugh is incredible as Jean Tatlot as Oppenheimer’s lover in the 1930s who had communist views as they would have an unusual relationship only for things to disintegrate following his marriage to Katherine as their affair would later get troubling. Emily Blunt is marvelous as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer as Oppenheimer’s wife who deals with her husband’s role and his affair as well as the things said about him where Blunt has a great moment upon being confronted by Robb at her husband’s security hearing as she destroyed him. Matt Damon is remarkable as General Leslie Groves as a military official who works with Oppenheimer despite their own differences as he sees the potential of what they’re creating as he also knows what is at stake during World War II.

Robert Downey Jr. is phenomenal as Lewis Strauss as the head at U.S. Atomic Energy Commission who would bring Oppenheimer as an advisor only to feel humiliated by Oppenheimer as he would have a falling out with Oppenheimer as he would later have a Senate confirmation hearing where he would talk about his issues with Oppenheimer as Downey shows restraint in his performance but also a lot of complexities into the character. Finally, there’s Cillian Murphy in a tremendous performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer as the famed theorist physicist who is called the Father of the Atomic Bomb as he is man that is filled with complications as he tries to figure out how to create something only to realize that he has created a chain of events that would trouble him. Murphy’s performance is filled with a lot of restraint but also anguish into a man who deals with a legacy that would haunt him as it is a career-defining performance from Murphy.

Oppenheimer is an outstanding film from Christopher Nolan that features a spectacular leading performance from Cillian Murphy. Along with its ensemble cast, immense technical work, a screenplay that explores a man’s troubled life and what he created, and Ludwig Goransson’s eerie music score. It is a film that is unlike many bio-pics as it focuses more on exploring the legacy of a man who would create a weapon for the world to destroy itself and the morality he would endure for his part in that creation. In the end, Oppenheimer is a magnificent film from Christopher Nolan.

Christopher Nolan Films: Following (1998 film) - Memento - Insomnia (2002 film) - Batman Begins - The Prestige - The Dark Knight - Inception - The Dark Knight Rises - Interstellar - Dunkirk - Tenet - The Auteurs #13: Christopher Nolan

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