Oppenheimer is a biographical film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife. With Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, and Kenneth Branagh. The script is based on the biography titled “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird.
A biopic directed by Christopher Nolan? It certainly sparks curiosity and, on its own merits, has become one of the films of the year and a favorite for upcoming Academy Awards.
Is it as brilliant as they say? It has a lot of the brilliance found in Nolan’s overwhelming style developed in so many films, it has a lot of biopic elements, and above all, it has a great deal of political intrigue with a strong touch of criticism.
The birth of the atomic bomb is a subject that deserves a film like “Oppenheimer”.
About the film
Let’s start with the major problem of biopics: they tend to just present the most significant events of a person’s life without achieving, most of the time, value as a cinematic work.
This is not the case with “Oppenheimer”, which is a complete film in terms of structure, resources, and storyline. It is more than a biopic about the principal engineer of the Manhattan Project; it is a socio-political tale about its creation and its consequences.
Technically, there are no surprises: overwhelming in pace, production quality, costumes, sound… it is a top-tier film with a large budget, and every aspect is carefully crafted.
But what matters in “Oppenheimer” is the story and its treatment: it is a film that sparks controversy, especially on a political level and in the moral consequences of what this physicist did. It is an intricate film, with many characters and subplots that go beyond showcasing the works of the main character, but rather expose the entire environment, motivations, and external intrigues that led to his being underestimated for a while, and then praised.
Is it as awe-inspiring as they make it out to be? For anyone familiar with the subject, perhaps not so much. It is almost Nolan’s favorite subject (this thing about quantum physics), but he doesn’t delve into technical explanations: he provides just enough to understand the field we’re dealing with and, with a few basic examples, dives into the plot that matters, the political plot.
Our Opinion
A great biopic and spectacular film that, nonetheless, doesn’t surprise as much as it might seem. One of the films of the year? Undoubtedly, but 2023 has not been a great year, and perhaps this lack of competition puts it on such a high pedestal.