Inspired by a Pulitzer Prize winning book American Prometheus: Triumph and Tragedy by J. Robert Oppenheimer Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, Oppenheimer This is the story of the man who invented the atomic bomb.
Director Christopher Nolanthe film is intended to tell not only about the creation of the most powerful and deadly weapons that mankind has ever invented, but also about the life of Robert Oppenheimer, a man who cannot be called only the father of the atomic bomb, but also as a man who suffers from symbolic doubts about his deadly discovery.
IT ALL STARTED IN THE DESERT
It was called the “Manhattan Project” and was an ambitious program that involved countless physicists using their intellectual abilities to create a bomb that could use all the energy produced by splitting an atom.
In this way, an incredible destructive power could be unleashed, never before experienced by man. We are in 1942 and the world has been shaken by the Second World War and the alarming advance of the German troops.
Germany, in addition to having a large military force, also produced an explosive device with incredible offensive capabilities.
To allow the German troops to create this formidable weapon was to leave the world at the mercy of the insane dictatorial ideals of Adolf Hitler. It was unacceptable. The government of the United States of America faced this threat.
It is for this reason that the best physicists have been convened, headed by Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy), proposed planning a military response that could eliminate the threat of the Crook.
To bring these brilliant minds together, a laboratory was built from scratch in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The incredible thing is that a real city was created around this conglomerate so that everyone who worked on research could literally settle down with their families.
The arid desert in a short time has completely turned into a territory inhabited by the greatest minds of that age, united to try to give a worthy future to the human race.
EXISTENTIAL PARADOX
How can a bomb with enormous destructive potential, capable of destroying any form of life within a radius of hundreds of kilometers, guarantee world peace?
This seemingly paradoxical question will forever remain in the minds of Oppenheimer, a brilliant physicist, a man with a versatile personality, a genius and never inclined to believe in the effectiveness of war.
Since it bears the signature of the famous Christopher Nolan, one might think that Oppenheimer uses images full of sound effects and heartbreaking editing, cinematic trappings that we used to enjoy when thinking about other features of a director. Dunkirk, Interstellar and sagas about The Dark Knight.
If you think you’re watching a cinematic show full of explosions and an obsessive script, you’re wrong.
Oppenheimer this is the most intimate film of Christopher Nolan who wants to offer a biopic that will reveal the whole complex nature of one of the most famous physicists to ever exist.
Nolan’s film has the audacity to build not only his career, but also his personal life, as well as acquaint viewers with his personal and ambiguous approach to the concepts of democracy, war and love.
Just to be able to unravel the life, controversies and career of this man, Oppenheimer lasts three hours.
One hundred and eighty minutes that Nolan uses to create an intricate and captivating story, full of dialogue, effectively expressing through insightful and sophisticated verbal constructions all the gray areas of the physicist’s soul and his worldview, full of idealistic nuances.
ACTORS WHO ENRICH THE STORY
Along with Cillian Murphy, who has remarkable acting skills, showing off all the many emotional flaws of the character he plays, Oppenheimer uses a cast that draws heavily on today’s biggest Hollywood stars.
It is worth emphasizing two actresses who represent two very important women for the physicist Oppenheimer: Emily Bluntlike Kitty Oppenheimer, physicist’s wife, e Florence Pughwho plays Jean Tatlock, a tormented psychiatrist whom the maker of the atomic bomb meets before getting married.
These two female figures will be central to the story to outline the special relationship that Oppenheimer reserved for the female.
While Kitty has a sometimes banal marital relationship, Jean’s more carnal side explodes, to which Cillian Murphy lends his face.
Also important in the film is the role of General Leslie Groves, Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, as Matt Damonit’s from Robert Downey Jr.who plays Lewis Strauss, founding commissioner of the US Atomic Energy Commission.
It is the latter who will represent the man who will bring numerous ethical and, above all, political problems into Oppenheimer’s life.
Between key characters and others who will only have small roles, Christopher Nolan’s film is almost unmatched in bringing in great actors, as we also see Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Gary Oldman and Casey Affleck on stage. A carousel of stars that flawlessly adorns Christopher Nolan’s film work.
Where can you see Oppenheimer