By Brontë H. Lacsamana Reporter
MOVIE REVIEWOppenheimerDirected by Christopher Nolan
THE STORY of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in the development of the atomic bomb is not just riveting for history nerds but should be interesting for any human being considering that the result of his actions and convictions completely changed modern warfare.
What is unexpected — at least for those unfamiliar with the biography American Prometheus that Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) is based on — is how a moral crisis can evolve so explosively in one man’s lifetime.
Unsurprisingly, Mr. Nolan, who has helmed grand, mind-boggling, and visually and sonically astonishing movies such as The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar, treats Oppenheimer’s life as an immense and immersive drama of epic proportions.
Filmed on 70mm IMAX, the sheer scope and technical ambition of the film can be felt not just when explosions occur onscreen, but even when thoughts are swirling endlessly in Oppenheimer’s mind, or when staggering revelations are absolutely shaking his core.
With that said, Cillian Murphy, who plays the titular role, is front and center for the entire ride. As a confident, passionate genius who later staggers under the weight of the consequences his beloved quantum physics caused, he moves and speaks with the right amount of emotional distance from the audience despite being under the scrutiny of so many shallow-focus close-ups.
Mr. Murphy’s chilling blue eyes — a trademark that sets the Irish actor apart for this role — perfectly convey the unreachable turmoil within. His movements, like he’s a ball of energy heading towards his eventual karmic fate, are driven by a brilliant build-up of tension as the science gives shape to the most destructive device known to man.
The Trinity Test scene is where it all comes to a head. It’s where we see the Los Alamos community of scientists set off the initial iteration of an atomic bomb for the very first time. It’s something that shouldn’t be spoiled, but for the purposes of this review, it’s one of the most unnerving, breathtaking, and heart stopping moments ever put to film.
Shockingly, Mr. Nolan doesn’t let that be the peak of intensity on this ride. The visuals and sounds in the events that take place after, when the consequences rush in, are just as horrifyingly powerful.
Oppenheimer takes very, very deep cuts into the meat of how politics and science intertwine and shape history in ways that will overwhelm viewers if they’re unprepared for a three-hour deep dive on the matter.
The hopelessly tangled relationships of those involved in the making of the atomic bomb and the later usage of it may draw comparisons to those in the film The Social Network (2010), about the making of social media platform Facebook and the chaos among the makers that ensues afterwards.
How this film does it is very interesting, though. It divides the subjective — filmed as normal and following the perspective of Oppenheimer — from the objective — filmed in black and white and centered mainly on court hearings and conversations that involve the amiable yet questionable character of Lewis Strauss.
The objective part is cold and calculating, although Strauss is played so charismatically by Robert Downey, Jr. that it makes you reflect on what might have really occurred. It turns making sense of Oppenheimer’s life into an utter challenge, as it is so marred by contradictions, with his life post-A-bomb invention spent advocating for nuclear weapon regulation.
And yet how does this embracing of complexity succeed in the time and space of a blockbuster? It’s safe to say that only Mr. Nolan’s filmic ability can make every moment of it appear, sound, and feel large and earth-shattering.
The film may leave you winded. For me, going home late at night on a bus speeding down the road made me feel like I never left the IMAX theater. I couldn’t tell if the reverberations I was feeling were from the actual, rough bus ride or just traces of the immense sound design still rumbling in my ears. Maybe both.
Oppenheimer is a masterfully orchestrated assault on the senses. The visual and auditory elements rendered every single scene unnerving, whether it was centered on the explosive creations of man or the equally explosive complications among man.
MTRCB Rating: R-16
