Oppenheimer review movie Christopher Nolan With Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon AND Robert Downey Jr.
From I remember on Christopher Nolan devoted much of his work to telling about people who sacrifice their lives, consciously or not, to achieve a goal that allows them to forget a personal loss for which they feel at least partially responsible.
It is therefore not surprising that the British filmmaker became interested in the life of a man who is the historical personification of guilt: the scientist J. Robert. Oppenheimerwho, according to legend, commented on the first successful test of his atomic bomb with the words Bhagavad Gita: “I became Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
So Nolan adapted the biography American Prometheus: Triumph and Tragedy by J. Robert Oppenheimer From Kai Bird AND Martin J. Sherminawarded in 2006 Pulitzer Prizetelling—in its longest script—two phases in the scientist’s life: triumph—an international learning experience, his political commitment, his period at Los Alamos under Manhattan Project – and tragedy, that is, the period after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, marked precisely by remorse and his opposition to the development of the next generation of military devices, which earned him ostracism from US policy.
If this story had been given to another director, it might have ended biopic very traditional, but Nolan, as usual, shuffles the cards, forcing two time moments to run in parallel (but don’t worry: this time without time ticks), and with alternation – not strictly tied to the era depicted – between scenes of color (“Fissione”) and others in black and white (“Fusion”), the meaning of which becomes clearer only in the last part of the feature film.
This is a choice that can be disorienting and confusing, especially for those who are unfamiliar with the historical period and Manhattan Project, or the difference between “atomic bomb” and “hydrogen bomb”. Also because the stoic (and extraordinary) protagonist Cillian Murphy, seeking to breathe life into a face that matches the vivid photographs of Oppenheimer, is surrounded by many supporting actors: scientists, lawyers and politicians, whose names are mostly obscure to the general public, not always distinguishable from each other. ; maybe it’s also an attempt to tell these barely mentioned characters apart, which is why there are so many familiar faces in the cast (Benny Safdie, Tom Conti, Harry Groener, Dan Quaid, Jason Clark, Macon Blair, Dane DeHaan, Alden Ehrenreich, David Dastmalchyan) or simply known (Kenneth Branagh, Matt Damon, Matthew Modine, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek), to name but a few, often just for a couple of scenes (but don’t expect Michael Caine to be too weak to play right now).
Among all stands out the actor who plays the role of Lewis Strauss, an entrepreneur and admiral, as well as a managerInstitute for Advanced Study Princeton, who welcomed Oppenheimer in 1947, the central figure above all in the Fusion section: masterful Robert Downey Jr. it’s free come on franchise who hired him over the past fifteen years, he is showing his best work since Zodiacs.
The crowding of male roles highlights Christopher Nolan’s usual imbalance in relation to the absence of female figures: beyond the shadows. Emma Dumont AND Louise Lombard (a little more than someone’s “wives”) and a fleeting appearance Olivia Thirlby in the role of the only woman in the laboratory (Czech scientist Lilly Hornig), in the center of the scene (if not blurry a little to the side) remain Florence Pugh (as psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, a member of the US Communist Party with whom the scientist was in a relationship before marriage) and Emily Blunt (played by Katherine “Kitty” Puening, who would become Mrs. Oppenheimer from 1940); both are depicted as independent and strong-willed women, but only one of them is recognized as having enough personality to resist and actively influence the behavior of the protagonist; more passive and “nolan” is the role of the other woman, who nonetheless remains on her way as the film’s emotional pillar and at the center of a kind of whimsical origin story illustrating the complex emotions that this famous quote from Bhagavad Gita in Oppenheimer’s mind.
In general, compared to the director’s latest films, the balance between the characters is greater. Maybe for this reason, maybe for the temporary alternation of the narrative, maybe for the repetition of certain scenes, the meaning of which is revealed gradually, Oppenheimer – despite the fact that this is a completely different story, a completely different context – this brings us back to memory Prestige. Therefore, we take comfort in knowing that no matter how mature, successful, ambitious Nolan has forgotten the rules of the game: he is still able to surprise and send us home with his mouth open, with breathtaking images, yes, but also – sometimes – just a revealing phrase.