Oppenheimer

So we finished our run through Christopher Nolan's filmography, leading up to the release of The Odyssey in the coming weeks.  This was my fourth time seeing Oppenheimer and I really feel it gets better with each viewing.  Every department is on point with this one, including the cinematography.  The use of shadows and light to both feel like ends leading to destruction with the shadows increasing the more we dive into Oppenheimer's psyche with his personal problems and the light becoming brighter with the moral struggles he had with the creation of the Atomic Bomb  and its uses in Japan.  When it comes to directing, this film has one of those classic Nolan scenes/sequences like many of his films with the testing at Los Alamos bringing to life what the experience was based on the accounts of those involved with the famous recalling of its detonation being as bright as "a thousand suns," and the use of physics that misses from most movies, that being the fact the light travels faster than sound so we see the explosion noticeably before we hear it leaving time to share his infamous thought upon witnessing it, "now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."  

The acting in this film is some of the best in all of Nolan's filmography so far.  Cillian Murphy of course owns the character of Oppenheimer so well but also other honorable mentions like Robert Downey Jr, Brad Pitt, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh amongst many more.  Even to the point of Gary Oldman giving one of the best performances of his career in his cameo as President Truman.  The scene with Oppenheimer and Truman is another classic and feels up there with some of the greatest acting moments Nolan has caught on film like Heath Ledger and Christian Bale as Joker with Batman in the interrogation room, Matthew McConaughey playing Coop seeing the messages from his family after losing a generation of time within the course of a couple hours, and Guy Pierce and Joe Pantoliano when Leonard confronts Teddy at the end of Memento.  Of course this is to just name a few from his filmography as well as more in Oppenheimer like Emily Blunt playing Kitty Oppenheimer when she's being interrogated in the hearing, with how visceral and real her emotions feel in that moment and how she goes from reaching a low for her character in that scene to ending on top with the character dynamics of the scene.

The editing and special effects, especially with the displays of the nuclear reactions shown in the film.  And of course the screenwriting is top tier here.  I love the connection between this film and Tenet, with Oppenheimer talking about the wave particle duality and how it's paradoxical but works, which is basically the whole argument for suspending your disbelief when watching Tenet.  Not to get too into the details and just accept the science fiction you were watching.  But one criticism I read about this film was about a trope that exists in biopics like this where the protagonist scientist sits and dreams of science, seen here with the cutaways to atomic reactions but I don't feel these were meant to necessarily be Oppenheimer just daydreaming of science.  My interpretation of this is that it's showing explosions that display the difficulties he faced throughout life so they work as a metaphor almost to be like just the laying of yet another brick in the wall of the person Oppenheimer is becoming.  But I can certainly see how the other perspective can be seen since I've seen some of the other scientist biopics where it literally does just show them sitting there being a savant daydreaming of science all day.  But I think the reason this is displayed like this is because it's the story written from the framework of artists like a screenwriter where I feel for artists it is more common when caught with inspiration to envision or daydream the work or concept of it playing out to them.  So I can certainly understand the criticism as it's saying Oppenheimer was that of an artist which I say adds a mysticism to his character but I don't know if he did have tendencies to do this or not but in the end it makes for a compelling character driven story.  

With all that said, this film is definitely Nolan firing on all cylinders and is an S tier work for him and I feel is quite possibly one of the best if not the best biopic movie so far.  This genre is one that I'm usually a little skeptical with watching as the film rules of showing heightened reality tends to be more heightened in the genre or at least feels that way because they are based off of a real person and people have so many layers to them that there's always criticism of something being missed, but so many I've seen just straight up downplay elements of the person's life that would make for an interesting story and film or just not show them altogether because the goal seems to be to just glorify the person the biopic is about.  From the little I've read about Oppenheimer I feel this film does a fair job of showing the different sides to his character.  He was a brilliant scientist but a horrible parent and partner and his focus was more on theory but in the lab he wasn't as proficient.  But he made up for his lack of ability with being a leader who would inspire those who brought strength that compensated for his weaknesses.  So this film may not be perfect as nothing ever is, I feel it gets closer to there than at least all the others I've seen in its genre.