Late to the party, but finally watched Oppenheimer. I feel like everyone missed the point?

[jw_sisyphus97]

Don't get me wrong, the visuals and the history were incredible. But looking at the discussions online it feels like people only care about the sound design or the explosion. To me it barely even felt like a standard biopic, it felt more like a horror movie about the exact moment you realize your theories are actually going to destroy the world.

The scene with Truman really stuck with me. Truman treats the bomb like a standard political tool and completely washes his hands of the morality, while Oppenheimer just gets crushed by the guilt of it all. And the scene where the cheering crowd just melts away during his victory speech? It perfected captured how messed up it is to try and justify something that you know deep down is completely unjustifiable.

Wondering what you guys thought. Did you actually buy his whole ethical paralysis thing, or do you think Nolan went way too easy on hm and made him too much of a sympathetic victim?

 

[GIGN.Officiel]

Don't get me wrong, the visuals and the history were incredible. But looking at the discussions online it feels like people only care about the sound design or the explosion. To me it barely even felt like a standard biopic, it felt more like a horror movie about the exact moment you realize your theories are actually going to destroy the world.

The scene with Truman really stuck with me. Truman treats the bomb like a standard political tool and completely washes his hands of the morality, while Oppenheimer just gets crushed by the guilt of it all. And the scene where the cheering crowd just melts away during his victory speech? It perfected captured how messed up it is to try and justify something that you know deep down is completely unjustifiable.

Wondering what you guys thought. Did you actually buy his whole ethical paralysis thing, or do you think Nolan went way too easy on hm and made him too much of a sympathetic victim?

I get what they were trying to do but you don't build a weapon and not know from the start you're building a weapon. He knew, he chose to build it, sucks to suck.

 

[Anthropos]

I think the bomb's creation was unavoidable and a matter of time.

 

[Celerity]

I wonder if people focus so much on the visuals because they did not genuinely like the movie deep down. Personally, I found it to be overrated. Great performances and visuals but not enough momentum or emotional investment to keep me interested.

I think Oppenheimer's story, particularly his horror about the bomb, is worth telling. I just didn't feel that the movie did this effectively.

In fact, I think spending more time on the ground with the bomb seeing the devastation would have driven it home better. Key scenes from Oppenheimer's biography could have been interspersed within a more fleshed out exploration of nuclear warfare.

That's my 2c. Have never been a huge fan of Nolan though. I often find his movies to be overly drawn out and emotionally cold. The only exception I can think of is Inception. That one worked for me.

 

[jw_sisyphus97]

I get where you are coming from with the "emotionally cold" thing but I actually think thats why it worked for me. Most biopics try to force this cheap, sentimental connection, but Nolan keeping it detached felt more honest to the weight of the situation.

As for showing the devestation on the ground, i see yoru point but i feel like that would have turned it into a different kind of movie (maybe a more standard war tragedy). To me, the horr was more effective because it stayed inside his head, Its that sartrean idea of being condemned to be free. He made a choice and now he has to exist in a world thats permanently broken because of it. Seeing the actual explosion might have let the audience off the hook by giving us a spectacle to look at, rather than making us sit with his internal ethical paralysis.

Funny you mentioned inception as the exception though. I actually found that one a bit too much like a polished puzzle. I'd much rather sit through three hours of emotionally cold historical dread if it actually engages with the absurditiy of the human condition like this did.