“Oppenheimer”: Physics can be so exciting and impressive

For months, “Oppenheimer” has been on everyone’s lips, referring less to the historical figure, the physicist, than to the film and the hype surrounding it. Although the work is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Biography” by Kai Bird – who, as the name suggests, deals with real personality and the life behind it, is more exciting for many than what a visionary director like Christopher Nolan has gotten out of the material visually and philosophically. Do we need a film adaptation of this old material now? How much can physics really interest a mainstream audience?

The film now shows us how the theoretical physicist wants to ensure peace by constructing a bomb during the Second World War and only after creating it realizes the consequences of his discovery. A story that only wants to work well for the viewers with a good start – but then knows how to unfold its entire overwhelming significance. Here comes our review.

A physicist’s inner dilemma

“Oppenheimer” takes us on a journey back in time and sums up how the atomic bomb was created in the 1940s. However, it is about much more than just theoretical formulas. Cillian Murphy gives J. Oppenheimer, the American physicist of Jewish descent. The matter is not only his interest, but his passion. During World War II he wants to use his skills to stop the Nazis. After hearing Hitler’s announcement to take Poland, Oppenheimer fears that the Germans might be in possession of a powerful bomb. So he decides to become part of the “Manhattan Project”, which is dedicated to the development of a new type of weapon – with the aim of constructing a larger bomb than the Nazis and thus being able to end World War II.

Directed by Christopher Nolan (“Interstellar”, “Tenet”), the three-hour work takes viewers into the process of creation, which involves a number of hurdles. After years of work and pressure from the US government, Oppenheimer succeeds in developing the ultimate nuclear weapon. What is initially celebrated later leads to fear and self-criticism when the bomb is used against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

As America feels stronger than ever, Oppenheimer is racked with guilt. His criticism of the weapon’s use eventually leads him to even more problems. The film takes you from the beginning of his career to his security authorization in 1954. The latter leads to the interrogation of Oppenheimer and his employees. The reason: the physicist suspects that he could be a communist, which displeased many politicians in the McCarthy era.

A tough piece of film follows and the question of persevering or giving up flickers in your head from time to time. But perseverance is worth it. we swear

Almost 30 years of life story told in three hours

The plots make it quite understandable why the work has to take the three hour duration to complete. Finally, it shows Oppenheimer lying awake in his bed at night at the beginning of his career, preoccupied with stars, atoms and physical impossibilities. This allows for a smooth introduction to the difficult topic, which is sometimes presented in a more tedious manner when the process in which his loyalty to America is discussed is shown.

To a large extent, however, the human side of Oppenheimer is also contrasted and, with the help of love stories, in addition to the atomic bomb problem, a multidimensionality is also presented, which is also intended to make his inner contradictions with the subjects easier to understand.

Even if the focus of the story is on dry expert physics, the film manages to make it exciting in the mix of nuances. Through the use of courageous sound effects and the visualization of the formulas, “Oppenheimer” is never too long-winded, but tangible and worth thinking about.

Just as numbers and codes are to be brought closer to the viewer in a playful way, Nolan also leaves a lot of time and focus for the feelings of his protagonist, who is not at all easy to classify. Murphy delivers one of his most subtle acting performances – this is contrasted with some of Oppenheimer’s interior views, served too much with a hammer, such as dim imagery or crass fantasies.

In addition to Murphy, the cast is also top-choice: Florence Pugh (the affair), Emily Blunt (the wife) as well as Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon deliver precisely and create empathy and emotional moments in an otherwise rather dry story world.

And of course it needs that kind of contextualization to understand the story and make it interesting for the big screen, but the one at the beginning of the strip is really very generous. Conversations do not become stale so quickly thanks to time jumps, which are characterized in the film by switching between digital and color filmed as well as analogue black-and-white scenes. Nevertheless, in the first 30 minutes and what feels like the hundredth allusion to dramatic consequences, you ask yourself when it will finally really start. Where’s the story folks?

Because seriously: Oppenheimer’s original idea and his passion would also be easy to understand in less time, for that Cillian Murphy would not have to be shown again and again, who thinks about stars every night or sometimes throws wine glasses against the wall because breaking them fascinates him.

closer to theory

After all: If you have withstood the long intro to the topic, incredibly fascinating scenes, sound effects and perfectly fitting musical inserts await you, which even manage to completely pull you into a theoretical topic such as physics.

Conclusion: You don’t need to have read J. Robert Oppenheimer’s biography to know the end of the film. Because most people are probably familiar with the attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nevertheless, it is exciting to witness the process of a discovery and to get to know the human side of the physicist in detail. “Oppenheimer” just wants to convince us with a lot of effects, if the resolution of the content is such a well-known one.

And especially in the scenes in which the bombs are tested, you are drawn into an incredibly high suspense curve through the acting skills of the actors, but also through the targeted use of softer or louder and delayed sound inserts.

What “Oppenheimer” missed at the beginning in terms of crisp use and dramaturgy is made up for twice and three times in the end. An epic masterpiece to think about for a long time.

“Oppenheimer” will be in cinemas in Germany from July 20th.