Movie theaters across the country are experiencing a surge of guests coming to experience the new film “Oppenheimer” released on July 21st.
With a budget of over $100 million and a profit of over $231 million, Christopher Nolan targeted the well-known Manhattan Project, or the creation of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War Two, to create this thrilling blockbuster.
The film revolves around the interrogation of Lewis Strauss and his relationship with physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer when he was appointed to direct the Manhattan Project.
Oppenheimer and a group of scientists worked tirelessly to develop and design the infamous atomic bomb.
Troubled with visions throughout his younger years, Oppenheimer is deemed a brilliant but egotistical, narcissistic prick who lets politics interfere with his work.
He was accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union Communist Party, which ultimately led to his demise at the end of World War Two and his security clearance revoked.
Oppenheimer opposed the physical use of the atomic bomb and the cruelty of the mass genocide. When he spoke up about it, he was met with criticism from not only his peers but President Harry Truman himself.
Truman claimed that no one cared about him, the person who made the bomb, because he was not the one who dropped it.
He was not the one who ordered the bomb to be dropped, but he still felt he had blood on his hands.
Oppenheimer faced hallucinations of victims with their skin melting off or stepping on bodies comprised of ashes, the fate that thousands of people met because of his development.
He was relentlessly punished by Lewis Strauss for his relationship with Jean Tatlock, a known communist that continued to maintain ties with the physicist for many years, despite his marriage to his wife Kitty, and for insisting his brother Frank, who was once part of the Communist party, should participate in the project.
It is revealed that Strauss was bitter about the time when Oppenheimer publicly dismissed his concerns regarding the use of radioisotopes outside of the country.
Strauss also assumed that J. Robert Oppenheimer insulted his character to world-renowned scientist Albert Einstein.
Strauss continued to gather a board of individuals to interrogate Oppenheimer when he appealed for his security clearance to be renewed.
His past with Jean Tatlock and his brother Frank was brought to light and used against him.
Although the private trial resulted in declaring him a loyal citizen of the United States, Oppenheimer’s security clearance was revoked, destroying his public image and his ability to influence further nuclear war policy.
He feared more nuclear development, specifically the hydrogen bomb proposed by fellow scientist Edward Teller, would lead the country down a deadly path in an arms race with not only the Soviet Union, but the entirety of the world.
The film concludes with the scene of Oppenheimer and Einstein at the pond, and what they truly discussed, not Strauss’ version.
Einstein tells him that now it’s his turn to “deal with the consequences of [his] achievement.”
There’s a quick scene of Oppenheimer accepting the Enrico Fermi Prize and being congratulated by the scientists who testified against him before Einstein says: “They’ll pat you on the back, tell you all is forgiven. Just remember, it won’t be for you. It will be for them.”
It is unknown if the scene is part of the future or merely a dream of Oppenheimer’s, but he then asks Einstein if he remembers the time they had a conversation about whether setting off an atomic bomb would start a series of chain reactions, which will finally set the whole world on fire.
A moment of silence from both before Oppenheimer says, “I believe we did.”
Scenes of nuclear explosions across the world map and missiles fill the screen.
But that leads to one question, is it truth or is it fiction?
The ending can be perceived in many ways, but is it possible the consequences of the Manhattan Project extend way past the Cold War?
The movie has been released at the prime time of the fear of nuclear war, making us wonder, was it intentional?
It’s true we haven’t experienced any destructive nuclear activity yet in the United States, but the haunting ending of this film clearly illustrates explosions across the map, including our home territory.
Did director Christopher Nolan intentionally imply this?
There is no doubt that Nolan believes destruction starts with man.
The entirety of the three-hour film is spent showing the complete and utter power that is created when one could yield an insanely deadly and tragic weapon.
Oppenheimer absolutely felt that guilt for being the one to make that possession of power possible.
That leaves audiences asking, is J. Robert Oppenheimer responsible for starting the ripple effect that initiates the end of the world?
