Oppenheimer: Opening a Door to the End
If Prometheus had known that fire would be used in such a way, perhaps he would never have stolen it.
People have been chasing something for centuries. Some have created brand new inventions for more fame and fortune, while others have inspired people who lived centuries after them with their art. There have been many geniuses in the world in many different fields as well as military geniuses. While some of them are well remembered, others have been put to the dusty shelves of history. In today’s article, I will talk about what I think about the movie “Oppenheimer”. To briefly talk about the plot of the movie, the movie tells the story of the inventor of the atomic bomb that the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II to show off to the Soviet Union and other enemies, and also to end the war with victory. As we watch the film, we watch Dr. Oppenheimer’s construction of the atomic bomb and how the disaster that followed left Oppenheimer in a conscientious dilemma.
Life, as in many areas, is a system that can leave people in a dilemma. There is a certain battle of good and evil in all of us. In many different philosophies, these concepts of “good” and “evil” have been in a mysterious balance for centuries. Even in the smallest decisions we make every day, we unknowingly think in terms of good and evil and make a decision. These small (!) decisions affect us and our environment. What about Oppenheimer’s decision?
The movie, in general, focuses on this dilemma. Rather than a battle between good and evil, we see a battle between worse and evil. Oppenheimer works on the atomic bomb, risking the bad outcome in order to avoid worse consequences (according to the movie, the possibility that the war will not end or that such wars will be repeated). What I don’t understand about the movie is that this dilemma is not handled very well. Many views say that they see this dilemma in Cillian Murphy’s facial expressions, but since this is a Nolan movie, people may have been forced to believe this. What I personally saw, at least at the beginning of the movie, was not that Oppenheimer was uneasy about the devastation and the sociological catastrophe of the bomb, but that he had the dilemma of whether the bomb would work or not. In fact, after the bomb is dropped, we see that Oppenheimer is really lost in a moral restlessness. Dr. Oppenheimer is not that deep in thought until he builds the atomic bomb. It is impossible for him not to be aware of the grave consequences of his project. The most important thing that makes me think here is the passion that some scientists have for correct calculations and achievement. I think this consistency and pleasure in trying to achieve a result does not show them the serious dimensions of the post-work, the sociological consequences and the psychological devastation. Maybe they are just trying to advance science, and sometimes their popularity. Whether my criticism here means that those scientists who are in this percentage are evil is open to debate. Because not every scientific development has a very bad impact on the world, unlike this one. Being able to see beyond the struggle of reaching a result or the satisfaction of finishing a job is not a skill that every scientist can show. Oppenheimer ignores the destructive aspect of the atomic bomb until it is completely ready, and his safe harbor is that he and his team will not make the decision to use the bomb. His mentality is more that the responsibility lies not with the person who builds the bomb, but with the authority that decides to use it. Oppenheimer, who doesn’t feel any responsibility and is constantly trying to convince himself of this, is confronted with reality when he moves away from the theory and sees the actual effect of the bomb and when it is no longer theoretical.
People make decisions, they create a work in line with that decision, and they may work hard for it. But once the work is ready, that is, once its practical results are observable, what comes next is always an unknown. After the atomic bomb is ready, Oppenheimer is left alone with the reality of this sociological, psychological, ecological, political and biological destruction. He feels responsible for all possible destruction. The film effectively shows — especially after the part that bomb is ready — how Oppenheimer is crushed under this responsibility and how such disasters could have been unavoidable after the discovery of the atomic bomb and the development process in this field. At the same time, I think the movie also dramatically depicts how the poles in the world of science entered into a power struggle and rivalry in the World War II.
If we talk about the technical details of the movie, as everyone knows, the movie was shot with IMAX cameras and this created a huge popularity. However, since most of the movie consists of speeches and there is no extra scenes that visually hard to shot , I think IMAX does not have an incredible effect. When the director is Christopher Nolan, the movie has to have a signature value, so I think it can be watched without IMAX. Also, according to my research on the internet, many people say that Nolan’s main reason for bringing IMAX to the forefront so much is to bring people back to the movie theaters. I think this is a good tactic. In today’s world, we have started to access digital content so easily that even cinema has lost its importance to some extent. In an age where we can easily watch TV series/movies even on our mobile phones, Nolan should be congratulated for finding a solution to popularize the old and cultural traces of cinema and that special idea of “going to the cinema” again.
As far as visual effects are concerned, it is said that CGI is not used to a great extent. Even in the scene where the atomic bomb is tested, no visual effects were used, and in other scenes there was no need for this because there was no scene that required it. At the beginning of the movie, we see how Oppenheimer’s mind works reflected on the screen, and Nolan did this by showing the movements of different substances, light and objects on an atomic scale. Seeing that kind of color confusion in different colors affected the aura of the film in a beautiful way.
Another successful aspect of the movie is the way it deals with political issues. Nolan narrates the film from Dr. Oppenheimer’s perspective. The parts he tells objectively are shown in black and white in the movie. Most of these scenes are the ones with Lewis Strauss in them — or even all of them, as far as I remember –
I liked the movie in general. If you expect the flow of other Nolan movies, if you expect adventure or action, it is better not to go to the movie with this expectation. While watching the movie, you only witness the history and see the events that happened. But this does not mean that the movie is boring. When I was watching the movie, I didn’t know many details even though I had done research beforehand, and I felt that I spent quality time watching the movie because the movie already gives you the necessary information gradually.
I wish for a future without wars, where good people live in peace and science contributes only for the benefit of living beings and our world.
