Oppenheimer (2023): A Review

OPPENHEIMER (2023)

"Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds". These words from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita came to J. Robert Oppenheimer upon seeing the successful nuclear bomb test. Oppenheimer, the biopic of the "father of the atomic bomb" is a brilliantly acted and directed film. It is filled with remarkable images and insight into this complex figure. 

Oppenheimer flows back and forth between the past and what would be current-day events in the film. American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) is being questioned by a small board over whether or not to renew his security clearance. That clearance was already hard to get when Oppenheimer headed up the Los Alamos section of the Manhattan Project during World War II. This project involved building a nuclear bomb both safely and before the Nazis could.

Oppenheimer's personal life is fraught with personal and political troubles. He has had a liaison with Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh). He also keeps a friendship with their mutual friend, Berkeley professor Haakon Chevalier (Jefferson Hall). Both Chevalier and Tatlock are openly committed Communists, as is Oppenheimer's brother Frank (Dylan Arnold). While Robert is sympathetic to Leftist causes, he never joined the Communist Party and oftentimes urged caution about political activism/agitation. 

One person that Oppenheimer did not have caution with was with Kitty (Emilie Blunt). She may have been married when she met Oppie. However, that did not him from knocking Kitty up. He and Kitty do marry, and he stays mostly loyal to her. It is not, however, his marital fidelity that bothers high-ranking military officials now that the Second World War has begun. It is his fidelity to the United States.

Despite misgivings, Manhattan Project head General Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) ultimately recruits him. Oppenheimer gathers a hand-selected group of scientists to come to his remote New Mexico ranch at Los Alamos to begin work. He gets everyone he wants except for Albert Einstein (Tom Conti), despite Einstein being the impetus for the creation of the Manhattan Project. Now, Oppenheimer must navigate the scientific, professional and personal among all his men (and women). 

Not that there are not people who distrust Oppie. There are Major General Kenneth Nichols (Dane Dehaan) and Colonel Boris Pash (Casey Affleck). They believe that Oppenheimer would give nuclear secrets to the Soviets. There is a spy among the scientists, but it is not Oppenheimer. Post-war, one of Oppenheimer's fiercest enemies is Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.). Despite his curious pronouncing of his surname as "Straws", Strauss tries to build up rapport with Oppenheimer through their shared Jewish ancestry. Oppie won't bite. Now that the war is over though, Strauss becomes convinced that Oppenheimer is a security risk. He also holds a grudge when Oppenheimer publicly humiliated him at a congressional hearing. Finally, Strauss and Oppenheimer are at fierce odds about the development of a hydrogen bomb.

Strauss is the mastermind of the hearing that Oppenheimer is facing. Strauss is also up for Commerce Secretary. Will Strauss manage to outflank Oppie and achieve his great ambition? Will Oppenheimer continue living with guilt over his successes?

Oppenheimer runs three hours long. Upon rewatching the film, however, I wondered exactly what if anything could have been cut out. Perhaps a bit of the extramarital liaison between Oppenheimer and Tatlock could have been trimmed. Tatlock's suicide could also have been trimmed. Overall, though, I was surprised at how well Oppenheimer held together. This is especially true given two elements that distinguish it from other films.

The first is that the film is not structured linearly. Oppenheimer goes back and forth from the board hearing to his work pre-and-post Los Alamos and to Strauss' Cabinet hearings. The second is that in almost all the sections that center around Strauss, Oppenheimer is in black-and-white. There are a few moments when Strauss is featured in color. There are a few moments when Oppenheimer is featured in black-and-white. For the most part though, we have color for the title character, black-and-white for his antagonist. 

That the balance never comes across as gimmicky or jarring is a credit to the production team. Jennifer Lame's editing never felt confusing or out of place. Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography made the separate sections look incredible. Both would rightly win Academy Awards in their respective fields, two of the seven Oscars that Oppenheimer would receive. 

Van Hoytema's cinematography was used effectively and brilliantly in the film. Sections were downright beautiful visually. The film shows various scientific visions that on screen look exceptionally breathtaking. Curiously, Oppenheimer was not nominated for Best Visual Effects and lost Best Sound to The Zone of Interest. I can see a case for why and how that happened. However, the Trinity test sequence is a brilliant use of visual effects and sound (or lack thereof). While watching, I heard in my mind Marvin the Martian. "Where's the kaboom?! There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!". Oppenheimer uses that silence to build up anticipation for a brilliant and terrifying sequence.

Oppenheimer also won for Best Director. Christopher Nolan, in terms of directing actors, more than merited the recognition. He directed three actors to nominations, with two wins. Robert Downey, Jr. is brilliant as Lewis Strauss. He makes him into a confident figure, cool under pressure, yet burning with quiet rage. Downey's Strauss is not a man to trifle with. We see someone who, despite his success, is still fearful that he will not measure up. I did not hate Lewis Strauss. I did not pity him either. Instead, I saw him as an effective man, driven by a curious mix of sincere belief and petty vindictiveness. He does have one moment of rage. That makes what has come before almost jarring.

Cillian Murphy is brilliant as J. Robert Oppenheimer. He maintains the calm demeanor, in keeping with how the real Oppenheimer was in public. This is a man who never rages or grows belligerent. Instead, Oppenheimer is calm and rational. His soft voice adds to the overall manner of making Oppenheimer into a deliberate man.

One scene sticks out. Oppenheimer is giving a short speech after the war is declared over. We see him say what he thinks his hardworking Los Alamos group wants to hear. The words are upbeat and even a touch jingoistic. What we see both in terms of Murphy's performance and Nolan's directing is that his heart is not in his statements. They are performative. In fact, we see Oppenheimer very alarmed and guilt-ridden by what he has brought about.

Oppenheimer's third acting nomination and only acting loss was for Emily Blunt as the fiercely loyal but equally sharp Kitty Oppenheimer. She is no shrinking violet, able to stand up against her and her husband's accusers when she testifies. However, she is also aghast and angry at Oppie for continuously not appearing to fight. Kitty endures Robert's tryst with his former mistress. She also stays besides him despite whatever doubts that she might have.

Oppenheimer is filled with top notch performances from the entire cast. This film embodies the adage of "there are no small parts, only small actors". We get small roles for a wide variety of established actors and young talents. This film features Josh Hartnett and Josh Peck as Oppenheimer's colleague Ernest Lawrence and Kenneth Bainbridge, the man who literally pushed the button at the Trinity test site. There are cameo roles from other Best Actor Oscar winners (Cillian Murphy winning for this performance). Gary Oldman appears as President Harry Truman. In his small role, we see Truman as one thoroughly unimpressed with what he sees as Oppenheimer's self-flagellation and self-righteousness. Dismissively waving his handkerchief at Oppenheimer, he tells the sad scientist that those in Hiroshima and Nagasaki do not care who built the bomb, just who dropped it. 

There are other cameo appearances in the film, each leaving a strong impression.  Among them are Kenneth Branagh as Danish physicist Niels Bohr, Casey Affleck as the cold Colonel Pash and Ramy Malek as David Hill, another physicist who dares stand up against Strauss in his confirmation hearings. Tom Conti appears briefly as Einstein, making him a serious figure versus the common idea of Einstein as brilliant but a bit wacky. 

While they are not cameo roles, actors as varied as David Krumholtz, Jason Clarke and Alden Ehrenreich work well in their roles of fellow Manhattan Project scientist Isidor Rabi, de facto prosecutor Roger Robb and Strauss' Senate confirmation aide.  

Matt Damon is probably the weakest as General Leslie Groves. He seemed to be one note, almost always raging. It was not a bad performance, but I was not enthusiastic about it.  I could also question how Alex Wolff could play fellow Berkeley scientist Luis Alvarez. Granted, Alvarez was of Spanish descent. However, it is doubtful that such casting would not raise eyebrows if done now.

A lot of Oppenheimer's power comes from Ludwig Gorasson's Oscar-winning score. It has a tense and gripping manner that also blends genuine mourning for his emotional plight. The film is almost totally filled with Gorasson's score. There are very few moments when we do not hear music. However, the score is so strong that it is not a flaw.

Every element in Oppenheimer works brilliantly (no pun intended). On every level, Oppenheimer meets its goal of being an intelligent and entertaining film. "It's paradoxical, but it works", J. Robert Oppenheimer observes to a colleague in the film. That could be a good description of the American Prometheus. 

1904-1967

DECISION: A-

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