YNOT at the Movies

Hailed as the "father of the atomic bomb," the brilliant theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer led the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bombs during World War II, but later he was targeted by the McCarthyite for his left-leaning connections and was stripped of his security clearance after a closed-door hearing. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Oppenheimer, the brilliant director Christopher Nolan brings Oppenheimer's extraordinary life story into the epic "Oppenheimer" (UK/USA 2023 | 180 min.). While it's an absorbing and immersive experience to watch this masterpiece on an IMAX screen, it's Nolan's superb filmmaking and Oppenheimer's legendary story that will resonate with the viewers.

At the beginning of the film, it flashes two words on the screen: "1. Fission" (splitting one atom into two smaller atoms) and "2. Fusion" (two atoms slam together to form a heavier atom) which describe the two principal physics processes that both produce massive amounts of energy. Although these are two terms used in nuclear physics, they are also the metaphor in summarizing how the film is going to proceed and build up the display of the explosive high drama.

The director is known for his nonlinear storytelling style, and this film is no exception. It intertwines three main threads. The first is J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) leading a group of brilliant scientists to build a nuclear bomb in the '40s, also known as the Manhattan Project, under the command of Major General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon). The second is a closed-door security hearing in 1954 by the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), accusing Oppenheimer of association with the communists. The third is the 1959 Senate confirmation hearing for the AEC's chairman Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) to become the Secretary of Commerce.

These three threads are all mended together with politics, passion, loyalty, betrayal, consciousness, friendship, and humanity of these characters. It's a grand symphony with the energy of climaxes similar to a nuclear explosion. In the end, the mesmerizing image of the father of the atomic bomb imprints in the viewer's mind, as it did in human history.

Even though this is not an action film, the director Christopher Nolan chose to shoot the film on 70mm and exhibit it on an IMAX screen. It creates a magical intimacy between a viewer and the character, as if we are inside the mind of Oppenheimer when he struggles with the philosophical question about creating and using nuclear weapons. He masterfully utilizes all filmmaking techniques and tells an American hero's story that is long overdue in cinema.

Cillian Murphy does not only physically resemble Oppenheimer, but his superb acting is also so convincing that you literally sense his mental process. We process the agonizing philosophical thought together with the character while watching the explosion of an atomic bomb: "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

In the era of the birth of AI, it's both intriguing and concerning to revisit Oppenheimer's story. Will AI become the new weapon of mass destruction, or will it provide solutions to the consequences of the nuclear weapons Oppenheimer's team created?

"Oppenheimer" opens on Friday, July 21, 2023.