I went and checked out the frenzy about #Opppenheimer and came back awestruck with a few scenes, the visual treatment of which that can only be attributed to #ChristoherNolan’s genius. The lingering shots of the now disgraced scientist sitting hapless on that black sofa in the small dingy room is in sharp contrast to the euphoria in the aftermath of the creation of the A bomb. For a film that harps on the invention of the bomb that destroyed more than hundred thousand lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is no shot or image of the havoc is wrought; instead the focus is single minded on the systematic destruction of a brilliant man who didn't know the ways of the world. Nolan chooses to focus the camera on the ridges of Oppenheimer’s face, his deep blue eyes and the shadows created by the high cheek bones. If you look closely, the stunning visuals that he sees when he closes his eyes are far more evocative than any shot of the actual test. When the Trinity test explosion happens, the director chooses to mute the sound track and instead focus on the anguish and the agony of the protagonist's face. When he is being grilled on his relationship with a woman with Communist antecedents, the camera lingers on his nude torso in a ‘blink-and-you-miss’ moment. And when he addresses his team post the success of their efforts, he sees flashes of gnawing misery and horror at what he has created. The production design, graphics and the sound track are perfectly blended to enhance the story telling.
#Oppenheimer is the story of a brilliant man who does not know his own greatness and is haunted by the consequences of the choices he has made. The story cuts across three tracks .. the first is the journey of J Robert Oppenheimer as he moves from being a student to a scientist and eventually, Director of the Manhattan project. This takes him from England to Germany, Amsterdam and eventually Caltech and Berkely. He is shown as having shades of gray; in one of the early scenes, he tries to poison a lecturer who scoffs at him. The second part deals with the interrogation into his communist links. The third track is entirely in black and white and deals with the hearing of Lewis Strauss (#RobertDowneyJunior in an almost unrecognizable avatar), the businessman and philanthropist running for US Secretary of Commerce. The run-in with Strauss is an ironic end to a relationship that started with him recruiting Oppenheimer to head the prestigious institute for Advanced studies at Princeton, New Jersey.
Yes the run time is a whopping three hours but remember that this is a magnum opus spanning four decades. The adrenaline pumping first half transitions into a tragic second half. #Oppenheimer is a big canvas as large as it gets, has layers of hubris, a lot of history, characters and above all, a masterful screenplay where events, dialogues and time lines come together in a furious mix of non-linear storytelling. Based on the Pulitzer prize winning book “Americas Prometheus - the triumph and tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer”, it narrates the story of a man’s biggest discovery and achievement leading to his biggest downfall. This is not an easy tale to tell - think about it as a story of men of science arguing, debating and furiously jotting down boring physics formulae on a chalkboard. The screenplay cuts across rooms, dialogues, meetings, beautiful landscapes and spectacular graphics all accompanied by blinding flashes, high decibel audio and the tragic facial images of the protagonist.
#Oppenheimer is #ChristopherNolan’s twelfth film. He made his debut with #Following in 1998 and then followed it up with #Memento. He is critically acclaimed for his work in #Batmanbegins and #TheDarkKnight. Since then he has worked on his obsessions around climate, war and more in #Inception, #Dunkirk and #Tenet. His filmography here focuses on the time that is lost and the opportunities that have been missed. He assembles a stellar cast that shines bright in every scene.
#CillianMurphy plays the role of his lifetime after numerous essays as supporting cast with #Nolan. He sheds a lot of weight for this role and is almost skeletal as the chain-smoking scientist. Prop master #GuillaumeDelouche had to design herbal cigarettes with a flavor of menthol for this. They also got the #Chesterfield logo imprinted on the cigarettes. In his role, he talks about combining his passion for physics with his love for New Mexico and in many ways, he nudges the system to put up the facility for the Trinity test at Los Alamos. The pathos of the man who went on to adorn the front page of the #Time magazine as the father of the atomic bomb is palpable; in one sexually explicit scene with Tatlock (#FlorencePugh in a brilliant cameo) he quotes Sanskrit from the Gita and describes himself as “the man who became death; the destroyer of worlds.” #Oppenheimer is pictured as a man with many shades – brilliant at his work, flawed in disposition, womanizer, sympathetic to the communist forces in Spain and to whom he and his brother send money, a competent leader of his team and yet strangely naïve to the ways of the world. Technically, he was actually the first to split the atom. He did not really invent the chain reaction and was only instrumental in adeptly guiding the efforts of his team to build the A bomb.
#EmilyBlunt is exceptional as Kitty (#Oppenheimer’s wife.) She rebels against the men who turn against her husband during the trial. Her anguish and loneliness is brought out in that one scene where she is drinking in the dark in her kitchen even as their son is bawling in the background. In another scene, the scientist is heading out on D-Day even as Kitty is doing the laundry! #MattDamon as the Lieutenant General leading the Manhattan project is characteristically brilliant in what is really an extended cameo role. His brand of somewhat dry wit is delightful to watch; so is the subtle transformation of the relationship between him and Oppenheimer. #RamiMalek is superb in a role where all he does is read out from a document in the hearing. The cast includes many other heavy weights including #KennethBranagh as Niels Bohr, #JackQuad, #JoshPeck and of course the inimitable #RobertDowneyJunior. #BennySafdie as Edward Teller and #GaryOldman as President Harry S Truman are also noteworthy. #TomConti is also featured in a cameo as #AlbertEinstein. There are a total of 79 named characters in the film and all except one are real people. Talk about a mammoth casting job!
#Oppenheimer is a winner; the scenes play out in your head long after you are done watching the film. It boasts arguably the best screenplay in recent times. #Nolan makes sure that his focus is not the catastrophe wrought by the actual dropping of the bomb, not even the spectacle of the Trinity testing, not the quantum mechanics at the heart of the subject but instead it is the little debates, dialogues and the discussions inside the little rooms. The editing is furious and hectic and sets a blistering pace as the tension builds up. At the end of the day, #Nolan wants you to feel the agony behind the blue eyes of his lead as he goes from the nation’s hero to a tragic caricature. As one of the characters in the movie puts it “The bigger a star, the more violent its demise”!
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