A movie for true lovers of the art form! In just a few words, that is what Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is.
Ever since his breakout movie Memento, Nolan has been pushing the cinematic envelope, exploring different genres, themes and philosophical ideas. From psychological thrillers, superhero flicks, and science fiction cinema to a war movie, the maverick director has crafted a great line of vastly different movies. With the possible exception of Dunkirk, it wouldn't be all wrong to say that Nolan's works have a fascination for the abstract; and when it comes to retelling the story of a genius scientist, known as the 'father of the atomic bomb', he gets to combine his love for the abstract with a documentary-isque storytelling. Abstract because you are delving into the mind of a great scientist who grapples with questions that are far too complex, even as we relate with his struggles and deep regrets.
Based on the biography of the scientist, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the three-hour-long film follows Oppenheimer through his student days, years as a professor when he dabbles with communism without being a card-carrying member of of the party, to heading the Manhattan Project, his hearing for security clearance which made the genius scientist look like a traitor, and its fallout in the life of the man who orchestrated the public disgrace of Oppenheimer—Lewis Strauss.
Oppenheimer begins with the confirmation hearing by the Senate of Admiral Lewis Strauss for the appointment as secretary of commerce. The movie then goes back and forth to the hearing to revoke the security clearance of Oppenheimer who was chairing the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1953 and various incidents in the scientist's eventful life. You are introduced to a brilliant young Oppenheimer who is fighting his own set of demons—a genius theorist, he is clumsy in the lab, and a bit awkward and homesick—his attempt to poison a professor, his meeting with the great Niels Bohr, and his eventual recruitment to head the Manhattan Project and the events that follow.
Oppenheimer was a man who walked different worlds; he was a left sympathiser at one point, but became critical of the party later in his life. He was a man of who it was said, 'he couldn't run a hamburger stand' but brought the best of scientific minds together to run the most secretive facility in America, the laboratory that designed and fabricated the first atomic bombs for the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. He could read Sanskrit, learn a new language, and give a talk in the same in six weeks. Nolan brings in all these shades of the great polymath to present you a complex, yet relatable man; someone who could be brilliant and naive at the same time. It is an unassuming portrait of a man who probably couldn't comprehend his own greatness.
Arguably Nolan's best work in terms of detailing, visual grandeur, and philosophical leanings, the director does not intend to tell you how you should feel about the invention of a weapon of mass destruction and the man behind it. He merely faithfully, and most elegantly, chronicles the events and people that led you to the same, and lets you draw conclusions. This is evident in the way scientists celebrate the bomb after the 'Trinity' test—they were celebrating a scientific innovation and not a weapon of mass destruction, and 'Oppie' was all for it. But when it is time to celebrate the bombings, Oppenheimer hesitates. He is wracked by guilt although he manages to put up a show. It is hard to watch the scenes of celebration when Oppenheimer sees the audience as victims of the bomb, but at no point the director makes you feel that the scientist(s) behind the weapon of mass destruction have it in them to direct the same to their fellow humans. They are scientists, they invent things, they are neutral, but the consequences of their inventions do haunt them.
Nolan has claimed that there is hardly any CGI in Oppenheimer, and if that is indeed the case, the recreation of the 'Trinity' test is certainly a path-breaking cinematic achievement; one that could perhaps rival the 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, by the great Stanley Kubrick. The director chooses three distinct settings for most of the actions in Oppenheimer to unfold—there is the black-and-white Senate hearing of Strauss with mostly indifferent and unnamed characters; there is the vast, hostile desert terrain of Los Alamos which is unmindful of the destruction and devastation the men who decide to inhabit are planning to bring to the world; and then there is the intimate, claustrophobic, shabby room chosen for the security clearance hearing where a once revered scientist is humiliated in every way possible.
Oppenheimer is a performance-heavy movie, and the great line up of actors—some of them like Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, and Gary Oldman get barely a few minutes of the screen time—deliver some of the most fantastic performances you may see in recent times. Cillian Murphy lives and breathes his character as he embodies the physical, psychological, and emotional transformations of Oppenheimer. As you journey on with the man, you see the fumbling (the initial encounter with Bohr, played by the great Kenneth Branagh, is endearing to watch) clumsy youngster transform into a brilliant administrator and 'performer' only to fall into despair and melancholy.
While Murphy is indeed brilliant, it is Robert Downey Jr. as the vicious, vengeful Strauss who will blow you away. The actor is almost unrecognisable as the aging, intimidating and ambitious politician who is out to destroy Oppenheimer. Emily Blunt as the troubled, alcoholic Kitty Oppenheimer comes up with another great performance. It wouldn't be surprising if the film would have quite a few nominations for the Oscars in the acting front.
The cinematography is breathtaking, particularly the scenes of the atomic test, the long shots of the desert, and the meeting between Albert Einstein and Oppenheimer. While the film is dialogue-heavy, the director chooses to employ silence minutes before the nuclear test, except of course the brilliant background score, and it is indeed some of the finest and tense moments in the movie, although you know the outcome of the test is already out there.
There are far too many switches between time periods and incidents, some of them in black and white, but the editing is so seamless that you barely notice the transition. The background score by Ludwig Göransson elevates the movie to a whole new level of excellence.
Watching the film, it becomes obvious that Nolan profoundly admires this lanky, chain-smoking scientist, and by the end, you would not be surprised if you, too, leave the theatre with great respect for this enigma of a man. Oppenheimer calls for repeated watching, and unlike Inception or Interstellar, it is not because the concept is alien or far-fetched; it is because this retelling of history with dozens of important characters who shaped the world as we know it, and events of great historical importance are so tightly packed into this three-hour-long drama that you hardly have time to register some of them.
Movie: Oppenheimer
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh
Starring: 4.5/5
