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Oppenheimer poster

Oppenheimer

“The world forever changes.”

8.0
2023
3h 1m
DramaHistory

Overview

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Trailer

Review Official

Cast

Reviews

AI-generated review
The Half-Life of Conscience

Christopher Nolan has spent a career manipulating the mechanics of time and space, bending cityscapes in *Inception* and traversing wormholes in *Interstellar*. Yet, in *Oppenheimer*, he attempts an experiment far more volatile: he tries to capture the fission of the human soul. This is not merely a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer; it is a psychological horror film disguised as a historical drama, a work that suggests the loudest explosion in human history began with a whisper in one man’s conscience.

To view *Oppenheimer* as a standard biopic is to misunderstand its architecture. Nolan rejects the cradle-to-grave linearity of the genre, instead structuring the film around two distinct visual and narrative isotopes: "Fission" and "Fusion." The color sequences, representing "Fission," lock us strictly within Oppenheimer’s subjective experience—a world of vibrating subatomic particles, poetic anxiety, and blinding New Mexico light. Conversely, the black-and-white sequences, labeled "Fusion," offer the "objective" perspective of Lewis Strauss (a career-best Robert Downey Jr.). This duality is not just a stylistic flourish; it is the film’s central thesis. We see the terrifying intimacy of genius through Oppenheimer’s eyes, and the cold, petty machinery of bureaucracy through Strauss’s. The tragedy lies in how easily the latter destroys the former.

Visually, the film is a monumental achievement, but perhaps not for the reasons one expects from the director of *The Dark Knight*. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema uses 65mm IMAX cameras not to capture sweeping action, but to map the topography of the human face. Cillian Murphy, in a performance of haunting fragility, allows the camera to scrutinize his every micro-expression. His Oppenheimer is a man gradually hollowed out by his own intellect. The vastness of the Los Alamos desert is juxtaposed against the claustrophobia of the interrogation room, suggesting that the true blast zone was never the Trinity site, but the mind of the man who ordered the ignition.

The film’s most devastating sequence, however, is not the atomic detonation itself—which is rendered with a terrifying, breathless silence—but the "victory speech" Oppenheimer gives in a gymnasium after the bombing of Hiroshima. Here, the sound design becomes a weapon. The cheering crowd’s stomping feet sound like artillery fire. As Oppenheimer stumbles through patriotic platitudes, the sound drops out entirely, replaced by the piercing scream of a victim and the roar of a nuclear wind. He sees flesh peeling from the faces of his colleagues. It is a masterful depiction of dissociation, illustrating that while Oppenheimer has physically survived the war, his moral spirit has been incinerated.

Nolan’s script wisely avoids showing the physical destruction of Japan, a choice that keeps the audience trapped in Oppenheimer’s specific purgatory. We, like him, are left to imagine the horror based on the data, forcing us to share in his abstract guilt. By the time the credits roll, the film has transformed from a story about winning a war into a meditation on the Promethean cost of knowledge. *Oppenheimer* leaves us with the unsettling realization that the chain reaction didn't stop in 1945; we are simply living in the long, decaying echo of the blast.

Clips (1)

Opening Look

Featurettes (21)

'Oppenheimer' Wins Best Cinematography | 96th Oscars (2024)

'Oppenheimer' Wins Best Film Editing | 96th Oscars (2024)

Cillian Murphy | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Oscars 2024 Press Room Speech

Christopher Nolan | Best Directing | 'Oppenheimer' | Oscars 2024 Press Room Speech

Best Cinematography | 'Oppenheimer' | Hoyte van Hoytema | Oscars 2024 Press Room Speech

Best Picture | Oppenheimer | Oscars 2024 Press Room Speech

Best Film Editing | 'Oppenheimer' | Jennifer Lame | Oscars 2024 Press Room Speech

Cillian Murphy drew inspiration from David Bowie to play Oppenheimer | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024

Oppenheimer wins Best Film | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024

Christopher Nolan wins Director for Oppenheimer | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024

Cillian Murphy collects his Leading Actor BAFTA for Oppenheimer | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024

Oppenheimer wins Editing | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024

Oppenheimer wins Cinematography | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024

Robert Downey Jr. wins Supporting Actor for his role in Oppenheimer | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024

'Oppenheimer' | Scene at The Academy

Picture

Oppenheimer 70mm film reel running in the BFI IMAX

Oppenheimer's cast on their first viewing of Christopher Nolan's film

Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon on Oppenheimer

UK Premiere

Christopher Nolan & Cast Interviews

Behind the Scenes (22)

Ensemble

Director

Screenplay

Florence Pugh

Matt Damon

Robert Downey, Jr.

Emily Blunt

Cillian Murphy

Costumes

Sound Editing

Production Design

Cinematography

Director

Editing

Hair and Makeup

Visual Effects

Score

The Score

Trinity Test

The Cast

Pushing The Button

Shooting For IMAX

LN
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