OPPENHEIMER (DIR: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN) (SCR: ADAPTED BY NOLAN FROM THE BOOK "AMERICAN PROMETHEUS" BY KAI BIRD AND MARTIN SHERWIN)
The Best Picture win for OPPENHEIMER was almost completely predictable: it had already won multiple Golden Globe and National Review awards, and it was nominated for 13 Oscars, more than any other film from 2023. (It won 7 in all). It also is the kind of film that the Academy likes to give awards to: it's not just a period piece biopic, it's also about American history and deals with big, meaty issues like the morality of building nuclear weapons. Add to that the fact that acclaimed director Christopher Nolan had never won an Oscar before, and you have all the makings of an obvious victory. Personally, I didn't mind that at all; I consider Oppenheimer to be a great film, filled with excellent performances and terrific looking period recreations. From Hoyte van Hoytema terrific cinematography (in both color and black and white) to Jennifer Lame's editing, (both of them won Oscars) this is one well made and great looking movie.
Like Steven Spielberg before him, for years now Christopher Nolan has been a director that has gotten both big box office receipts and critical respect for many of his movies. (I've been a fan since is excellent 2000 thriller MOMENTO). So much so that when he really wants to make a movie, he can get it done on the strength of his name appeal alone. Nolan had been interested in making a movie about rocket scientist Robert Oppenheimer for years and Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin's acclaimed and well researched 2005 biography about Oppenheimer, "American Prometheus" had been kicked around as a movie for years before Nolan himself read the book in 2015. He began production on it almost immediately after finishing his 2020 film "TENET. Interestingly, he worked with the Universal film studio instead of his usual home, Warner Brothers, because he was mad that that studio had released TENET in both theaters and on streaming during the pandemic. (Nolan has always been a big proponent of movies being seen on big screens in theaters).
Due to his clout, Nolan was able to make an epic three hour film that spanned decades of time and required numerous period designs. He was also able to get big stars like Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt to take supporting roles, while he cast his frequent collaborator Cillian Murphy in the title role. The final budget was around one hundred million dollars, and the film would, despite its length and heavy subject matter, make a hefty profit. Its national box office was over three hundred million dollars, with foreign grosses bringing it close to a billion dollars worldwide.
The film jumps around in time, from Oppenheimer's youth as a brilliant physics student to his leading a government team of scientists to make a nuclear bomb before the Germans did during World War II, with another timeline covering his life in the postwar years, when anti Communist fervor saw his government security clearance threatened.
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| Cillian Murphy and Charles Oppenheimer |
Nolan has said part of what drew him to the film was the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, which brought serious talk of a possible use of nuclear weapons into the world's conversation for the first time in decades. And this to me is a big part of why I think this is a great film: yes, it's about events that took place a long time ago, but the ramifications of those events are still frighteningly relevant. And the movie effectively pulls us in different directions emotionally: of course it's totally understandable that Oppenheimer and his scientific team want to beat the Nazis in developing a nuclear weapon. But when the bomb is used on Japan, there is both a sense of elation at the war's end and a fear of what a future with nuclear weapons will hold for the human race. Whether Oppenheimer himself is a hero or villain is left hanging because there's no easy answer. In perhaps my favorite scene in the film, Oppenheimer meets with President Harry Truman (Gary Oldman), who can't for a second understand the scientist's mixed feelings about the atomic bombing of Japan. While Truman seems almost buffoonish here, his assertions are not unreasonable. Again, there's no easy answer about Oppenheimer's discoveries.
As Oppenheimer, Murphy is just great. Somehow, he just seems to radiate intellect and drive as he calmly but determinedly works towards his goal. He also seems stunned and helpless in the postwar part of the film, as the same government that he did so much for turns on him. And Robert Downey Jr as as Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss, who's feelings about Oppenheimer are complicated, is also very good. One of Nolan's blind spots in his films is his lack of interesting female characters, and that problem does arise here. Oh sure, Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer's wife and Florence Pugh as his mistress both do what they can, but their roles don't go much beyond what you would expect from those characters. But that doesn't really hurt the film because this was historically a story about a group of men making big decisions.
Along with jumping around chronologically, Nolan's script also deftly explains the research the characters are engaging in without confusing the audience. And, of course, the film's inevitable build up to the first atomic bomb test is thrilling, even though we all know the result. To me, Nolan has made something really special: a thought provoking, well made and acted historical epic that's also very entertaining.
SO DID THE ACADEMY GET IT RIGHT?
It's pretty obvious that I love this movie, and while I wouldn't have minded an upset win for Cord Jefferson's wonderful racial satire AMERICAN FICTION, this was really the right choice in my opinion. (And Jefferson did win a well deserved Oscar for his script).
