Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer
The narrative follows J. Robert Oppenheimer, a key figure behind the atomic bomb's creation, a pivotal factor in concluding World War 2. From his time in academia to the aftermath of the war, the story unfolds, depicting how his renown entangled him in complex political situations.
Tanalien reviewedJanuary 9, 2025
Only a few filmmakers can release a film to great cultural fanfare on name alone. I arrived at the movie theater thirty minutes before showtime only to discover a long line of 250 people waiting to enter. I asked the folks first in line when they arrived: An hour ago. This was a weekday IMAX showing that would end at midnight. I was happily late. Christopher Nolan makes spectacular event films that demand a viewing in the movie theater, focusing on stories that are best told as a movie. This film will introduce one of our most important scientists to millions around the world - forever.
For most of its runtime, Oppenheimer places the viewer inside its titular character’s mind. One of director Christopher Nolan’s characters in 2020’s Tenet says, "Don’t try to understand it. Feel it." Inside the mind of Oppenheimer, we see particles buzzing, interacting, circling. A chaotic mess that is a display of the fundamentals of the world. Oppenheimer’s imagination is filled with quantum physics long before most physicists took the field seriously. He is a man possessed by his scientific view of the world desperately trying to assemble it into knowledge. To paraphrase Oppenheimer in the film, his childhood dream was to connect his favorite place in the world, his ranch in Los Alamos, New Mexico, to his love of physics.
At the end of the show, the effect of the film made everyone eerily quiet. There was no applause; I did not overhear anyone gushing over the technical wizardry. This film makes you take on Oppenheimer’s afflictions, caused by the most epic sense of circumstances the world has ever seen. His theoretical and managerial brilliance in a crisis, his guilt of creating the atomic bomb, his demise from his role as project director, his late-stage graciousness to those who betrayed his trust, and his desolate vision of the future. Imagine your childhood dream becoming your defining, living nightmare – and the greatest terror in the world.
This was an experience only possible at the movies.