<h2>Film:&nbsp;Oppenheimer</h2>
<h2>Cast: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr</h2>
<h2>Director:&nbsp;Christopher Nolan</h2>
<h2>Rating: 4/5</h2>
<p>Oppenheimer is the greatest biopic since Gandhi (1982), on the apostle of non-violence. Fittingly it&rsquo;s on the &lsquo;father of the atom bomb&rsquo;, who had nothing in common with the father of this nation.</p>
<p>Besides, as it turns out, both were drawn to the Sanskrit text, Bhagavad Gita&mdash;as were the Nazis, by the way&mdash;which justifies all kinds of karma (action), with dharma (duty).</p>
<p>Goes without saying, Oppenheimer&rsquo;s spectacular world&mdash;where the script, foremost, is the spectacle itself&mdash;has little in common with most biopics. A genre that in India, at least, has devolved into such a clich&eacute;, that we hear of a &lsquo;biopic&rsquo;, again&mdash;we just wanna run the other way.</p>
<p>But it&rsquo;ll always be about how a story is being told&mdash;for who&rsquo;s telling it; isn&rsquo;t it? Oppenheimer decidedly belongs to the &lsquo;Nolanverse&rsquo;. Meaning, by Christopher Nolan&mdash;arguably the most influential filmmaker in contemporary cinema (post Steven Spielberg, James Cameron).</p>
<p>Also, easily, the most commercial/mainstream writer-director in the world, with a cult following unrivalled since Tarantino. Critics themselves have rightly turned him critic-proof.</p>
<p>Why has Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises, The Prestige, Interstellar) achieved that rather unique distinction? By repeatedly making huge budget movies, that never undermine/ignore the audience&rsquo;s intellect&mdash;hence elevating it, instead.</p>
<p>How&rsquo;s he managed this fusion? As with Oppenheimer&mdash;by pulling you into a gigantic, IMAX screen, for an unwavering attention span, over three hours plus.</p>
<p>The thumping bass of the sound in the hall is enough to vibrate your bum on the seat. A relatively non-linear narrative, that carries the audience along, all through. Also, captivatingly real images, leaving the lazy, CGI crap, alone, almost altogether.</p>
<p>By Nolan&rsquo;s standards, Oppenheimer&mdash;based on Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin&rsquo;s biography, American Prometheus (2005)&mdash;focused on quantum physics still, is less a film on science, more on scientists.</p>
<p>So many of whom, in the 1940s, in particular, you realise, used to be such superstars&mdash;Einstein, Neils Bohr, Heisenberg, Hans Bethe&hellip; Their current equivalents you barely hear of, if they exist at all.</p>
<p>At the centre of this, what kinda man was Oppenheimer? A hugely complex creature, with multiple identities (aren&rsquo;t we all)&mdash;a theoretical physics don, with equal enchantment for the arts, literature, and women; simultaneously a rebel and conformist: an American patriot, with sympathies for socialists&hellip;.</p>
<p>Indeed, a &ldquo;genius, that&rsquo;s no guarantee for wisdom&rdquo;! Not that I had a mental image for Oppenheimer&mdash;it will, of course, be the brilliant Cillian Murphy forever, from hereon.</p>
<p>There is a theory I concur with, that Nolan&rsquo;s masterpiece, Inception (2010), about dreams inside dreams, was in fact, a film about films. Carrying on the subtext, what if we read Oppenheimer also as a film on filmmaking?</p>
<p>Wherein Strauss (Robert Downey Jr), as the top babu of the atomic energy commission, is the egotistical, megalomaniacal, pen-pusher, studio-boss (minor aside: how many of you think RDJ&rsquo;s face, with time, seems to be merging with Al Pacino&rsquo;s?)</p>
<p>There&rsquo;s General Groves (Matt Damon), pretty much the producer on the ground, militarily supervising the super-secret Manhattan Project, on the making of the atom bomb. And Oppenheimer is the creative brain, being pulled into multiple directions, pressures, but expected to deliver, with a clear head still&mdash;his neck is first on the line.</p>
<p>Between these three main characters, what you have is almost an Aaron Sorkin courtroom drama. If it wasn&rsquo;t for Nolan&rsquo;s broad, cinematic strokes.</p>
<p>Making this also a movie, at its nucleus, about impending dangers of terms/traps like nationalism, national security, when sold by sociopathic politicians, in particular. Nolan&rsquo;s made an &lsquo;anti-national&rsquo; film, that way, if you may!</p>
<p>All said, Oppenheimer is singularly recalled in history for &ldquo;220,000 (humans) dead, over time, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,&rdquo; for the A-bombs dropped by America.</p>
<p>Einstein (lovely Tom Conti) had suitably warned him against it, &ldquo;before either side (Allied and Axis powers) destroys the world,&rdquo; with WWII. Oppenheimer believed in the deterrence theory.</p>
<p>Going back to karma, maybe it&rsquo;s just age, and thoughts of mortality that follow&mdash;I&rsquo;ve been obsessed lately to figure if there is such a thing as poetic/divine/karmic justice, after all, for stuff you do to others, and must pay for, during the lifetime.</p>
<p>The guilt&mdash;&ldquo;have blood on my hands&rdquo;&mdash;that Oppenheimer must&rsquo;ve lived with, shows throughout the concluding chapters of the biopic. Even as the American President Truman (Gary Oldman) shamelessly quips, &ldquo;Who gives a shit about who built the bomb, [it&rsquo;s about] but who dropped it?&rdquo;</p>
<p>Is annihilation intrinsic to the human DNA&mdash;why else would a specie actively develop something that can wholly destroy its own self, and its home, only for the hate of &lsquo;others&rsquo; within? That said, Oppenheimer is by no means a weepy tragedy&mdash;it&rsquo;s far too energetic a movie to be anything but mesmerising&nbsp;for the most part.</p>
<p>And what a festival this film has been, leading up to it. I first watched Oppenheimer for a scheduled 6.30 pm premiere that, owing to tech delays, ended only at 1.30 am, the next day. I went back to the same IMAX theatre, two days later, to watch a packed, 3 am, public show, that finished in the morning!</p>
<p>Yeah, have seen it twice, already. Therefore, must add&mdash;unlike most Nolan films, a second viewing doesn&rsquo;t enhance the experience, any further. Maybe, it&rsquo;s also because, for once, you&rsquo;ve followed/understood the entire movie, the first time on, already!</p>
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Oppenheimer movie review: Oppenheimer is the greatest biopic since Gandhi

Oppenheimer movie review: This story itself is the spectacle!

Film: Oppenheimer

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr

Director: Christopher Nolan

Rating: 4/5

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Home / Entertainment / Hollywood News / Article / Oppenheimer movie review: This story itself is the spectacle!