Movie Review: Oppenheimer

 

I want to start off this review by acknowledging I was initially apprehensive about watching this movie.  The threat of nuclear devastation is a very real scenario that the world is capable of suffering if the wrong decisions are ever made.  The very concept of this fills me with much anxiety and it's a constant fear I have to handle on a day to day basis. The idea of sitting down and watching a film with outlines the dawn of this destructive capability for a three hour running period just didn't seem like something I wanted to subject myself to. However I reconsidered my initial stance when I thought about how this film existing or not existing won't change that. If anything it's worth watching this film to understand the importance of it's history and the weight of what could happen, History is important because it allows us to reflect and learn to make better decisions and my hope is we learn from movies like this to understand why these weapons should never ever be used. 

Directed and written by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer serves as a biographical drama film which covers the story of J Robert Oppenheimer and his career as a theoretical physicist and his contributions towards the Manhattan Project. Standing at three hours long, the movie consists of a wide collection of well known actors and actresses with such names including  Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, and Kenneth Branagh. Other notable credits behind the film include Hoyte van Hoytema as the films cinematographer and Ludwig Göransson as the films composer. 

The narrative structure of the film follows Oppenheimer's career from his early days learning and teaching theoretical physics, his contribution towards the creation of the atomic bomb on the Manhattan Project and his subsequent political dismissal in the years that followed. The journey Oppenheimer goes on is one of necessary escalation. Nolan does a fantastic job in outlining the wonders that Oppenheimer see's in his field of study and how those wonders soon turn to nightmares in the wake of the wartime setting he finds himself a part of. The way he progresses from a simple lecturer to a figurehead behind one of the most fundamentally destructive courses in human history is given all the pathos and scale necessary. I also appreciated how the film also took the time to define the complicated relationships of the people who interacted with Oppenheimer. Part of why this movie's character interactions work so well is the commitment from all the actors to truly get their performances down accurately. Whether it's Emily Blunt playing the role of his wife Kitty or Robert Downy Jr playing the role of his political adversary Lewis Strauss, each and every one of these actors sinks into their roles and gives everything to make this film feel like a deeply layered narrative. The main star of the show is clearly Cillian Murphy though, his portrayal of Oppenheimer is hands down Oscar worthy and I honestly hope the man gets what he deserves when award season comes round. 

Besides the fantastic writing, pacing and acting though is the other elements behind what makes this film so incredible. Christopher Nolan is a directorial genius of the modern film era and there's a clear reason people pay attention when he releases a new movie. The way this man shoots a sequence is filled with so much care and attention and you truly get the impression he is trying to get a clear message across with his films.  In Oppenheimer's case, you see with the way he's constructed this film that he wants to outline the tragedy behind man's progression towards total destruction. The way he shoots a scene puts all the attention on the characters and the themes at play. I love how visual Nolan was with this film and it's depiction of theoretical science. There are elements of the movie which visualizes chemical reactions in a way I've not ever seen before. The biggest standouts for me though were the Trinity Test sequences, the use of lighting and the lack of sound really took me to a place in cinema I've never been before. I felt physically sick with fear at the clear destructive force being presented and Nolan and the rest of the film makers out did themselves at every step. 

Oppenheimer is a clear and fundamental warning. As great a film experience as it is, it's clear intention is to outline we are far closer to our own mutually assured destruction than we think. Man has all the capability of creating wonderous things that can benefit us towards living a better life. Yet the opposite is also equally as true. What Oppenheimer did, set us on a course we may never truly be able to divert from. This film recognizes the weight of that tragic reality and visualizes it in some of the most beautifully horrific ways I've ever seen on a cinemas screen.