Oppenheimer: Random Thoughts Stimulated by This Explosive Film

Here are some thoughts I had this past week pertaining to the release of Oppenheimer, the film.

I once heard the following advice for public speakers: It's better to be ten minutes too short than two minutes too long. If you go too long, even by a little, that will be all that the listeners will remember.

I suspect that this is why many people brace themselves when they hear that a film they want to see is three hours in length. (I kept thinking of Gilligan's Island beforehand--"a three hour tour.") Fortunately, the film's frequently intense pacing and storytelling never gave me a boring moment.

The media was awash with pre-release hype surrounding the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same weekend. I'm sure much of that hype was masterfully generated by Hollywood itself, since neither of these blockbusters was cheap to produce. Some of the excitement surrounding these films may have in part been due to the fact that we were being treated to original work and not sequels to previous "hits." 

I went with three older friends to see the film last Tuesday. All three made a negative comment about the volume/noise level interfering with some of the the dialogue. Two of them also noted they wanted to see it a second time when it comes out on DVD so they can read the captions. In short, like myself, they liked the film, found it powerful and despite the complexity of jumping back and forth in time, gave director Christopher Nolan high marks for this achievement.

It's a story with two threads. First is the manner in which the development of the atomic bomb came together. The second, woven throughout, is the deeper dive into Oppenheimer's private life and the post-war hearings that were conducted in an effort to destroy the credibility and legacy of a scientist who had become Time magazine's Man of the Year. In short, the film jumped back and forth between the investigation of 1953 and the years preceding and leading up to Los Alamos, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

Flashbacks are not an uncommon device in movies or novels. For those who do not have a strong background in literature or film, I can imagine that it may have been easy to get lost. Then again, none of the men I was with had that problem. The 8.7 rating on imdb.com would indicate that most people who saw it this week were not fazed by it. Here'e a review excerpt that underscores the same point:

You'll have to have your wits about you and your brain fully switched on watching Oppenheimer as it could easily get away from a non-attentive viewer. This is intelligent filmmaking which shows its audience great respect. It fires dialogue packed with information at a relentless pace and jumps to very different times in Oppenheimer's life continuously through its 3 hour runtime.

The Communism Theme
(Spoiler Alert) The orchestrated character assassination of Oppenheimer the man took place during the McCarthy era. This context was clearly shown in the film. What has also been clearly shown in many other films is how extensively the Communist party had infiltrated the corridors of power in New York, Washington DC and Hollywood in the 30's.

What I almost never see in films is HOW this ideology became so popular or influential.  

For example, here in the Northland and Canada 10,000 Finns left America and migrated to the Soviet Union to be part of the mythological utopia that was being created there. Why? Because for ten years preceding WWII America's economy was a disaster. During the "Great Depression" unemployment was  as high as 25%. This was perceived as a failure of Capitalism. Marxist communism seemed to be the shining beacon of hope for a time. Communism's shortcomings would only be revealed later, but I think it useful to consider these things in the light of that broader decade of hardship.  (See my review of Mr. Jones.)

* * * 

There were a lot of great lines in the film.  Many of them were explosive statements made in passing. This one by Oppenheimer shows that he'd thought more deeply about the implications of the bomb than others. "They won't fear it until they understand it. And they won't understand it until they've used it. Theory will take you only so far."

Another message expressed in the film that stood out was this: Politics is an ugly business. Exercising great restraint, Nolan crafts a film in keeping with the storyteller's dictum "show, don't tell." 

If the frenetic pace of the film feels overwhelming at times, think of the pressure these scientists were under while racing against the clock to get it done.  

As for the acting: solid to exceptional across the board. There will be Oscar nominations and probably some winners as well. 

In short, it's a film worth seeing, and worth talking about afterwards with friends.