Review: Oppenheimer (2023)
This is a brief review of Oppenheimer, a film directed by Christopher Nolan and released in 2023. It is based on the book American Prometheus, written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, released in 2005. I will preface this post by admitting that I struggle to think critically about films as they spend much less time marinating in my head than books do.
The film has an absolutely stacked cast, with fantastic performances across the board. I cannot think of any cast member who meaningfully stood out as acting poorly or out of keeping with the film’s style. Emily Blunt’s performance as Kitty initially reminded me of her work in The English (2022), but as the film progressed I realised this was a superficial comparison. Her scenes during Oppenheimer’s security clearance review are absolutely fantastic, highlighting the stark differences between her and her husband. Another excellent performance comes from Robert Downey Junior as Mr. Strauss. His portrayal of the politician is consistently smarmy, and the spiralling mask-off scene for Strauss later in the film is a highlight of the whole production for me.
Since watching the film, I’ve read that the split between monochrome and colour scenes in the film were intended to represent the difference between scenes that show Oppenheimer’s perspective, and those that show a more objective one. I had absolutely no clue this was the intention when I watched the film, and I’m really not sure what the split colour grading added to it. Conversely, the film’s score was excellent, and heightened by a good bass-heavy sound system where I watched it. Unfortunately, the sound mixing in the film was deeply muddy at times, a consistent issue with Nolan's films. At points, it was bad enough that I had to rewind to re-watch a scene with subtitles temporarily enabled.
On the political level, I can't quite unpick whether the film has a relatively even-handed portrayal of the American mindset during WW2, or whether it devolves into revisionism. Whichever way it lands, I find this film difficult to draw much learning from, largely due to the fact that I am very aware that I am being served a specific version of the past. The film attempts to grapple with a moral element to science that I have often approached in the manner one approaches a horrifying stain on the ceiling. If there is black mould in the bones of your profession, would it be better not to know? As a physicist, I fear that some aspect of my intellectual work will be used to refine the efficiency with which our social system grinds up the designated "other" in foreign lands. I suppose, though, that this is the hazard of nearly any labour under capitalism.
To summarise, despite its slightly baroque length and poor sound mixing, I heartily recommend watching Oppenheimer - like all of Nolan’s films, it is extremely effective at telling an immersive story.