Oppenheimer.(The movie)
Watched on July 21st,2023at Prasadz IMAX, Hyderabad
Cinemas in India are hugely for entertainment and many times the important human moments are traded for crowning glory moments. But for many storytellers cinemas present an excellent opportunity to narrate a perspective that makes us read about history, invest emotionally into the characters that we are transported to that world effortlessly. It takes immense amount of self confidence and meticulous planning to show that world which we do not perceive. That's where Christopher Nolan bhaiyya enters making the quietest moments the loudest ones.
He has successfully made a generation read before going to watch his movies and
also re-watch it to understand it better He has made some of my favorite films and also the movies I did not want to watch one bit like Tenet.
Oppenheimer - This movie is about the most significant invention which changed the course of future wars, meant to stop the great war and put USA in a position of super power - This is about the making of The Atomic Bomb and everything that was happening around it. Its an adaptation from the book "American Prometheus".
"Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds." This quote summarizes the story. This is a quote from the Bhagvad Gita. India has had a movie Parmanu which showed how India became a nuclear power, I loved that movie, it was Indianized for easy consumption. Same way, this movie is about how America became the first nation to develop a nuclear weapon. It does not glorify the dastardly acts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki but the human side of the man who is popularly called the Father of the Atomic Bomb.
It has a lot of drama, court room dialogues, and has interactions of military personnel, liberal scientists, free thinkers and power seekers who interact with the protagonist.
Acting: When you have Oscar winning actors doing side roles imagine how good the main role must be. Cillian Murphy's biggest praise would be I forgot he was the "Scarecrow" in the Batman movie. Robert Downey Jr is not the Ironman in this movie, he plays his part with such restraint that this shows what actors are meant to do to give meaning to their role without bringing in the flair of their most popular work (Ironman).
A house full audience at an afternoon show at the biggest screen in Hyderabad shows people are willing to come to watch a 3 hour drama with engaging background scores( Ludwig Göransson) that keeps you absorbed. Don't miss Oppenheimer's interaction with Einstein what a roar that got. :)
What did I not enjoy - I really expected some more Visual effects about the atoms, how the scientist thinks and visualizes it sparks a lot of interest in the minds of people wanting to get excited by this field and its potential. But Nolan bhaiyya is more about recreating scenes naturally and showcases the human side of Oppenheimer dealing with his emotions and decisions and does not delve deep into the making of the bomb.
If you have a liking towards Drama, an important slice of history served in Nolan style with nuances without Akshay Kumar acting as a lead in a biopic ;)
Watch Oppenheimer but read a little bit about Trinity Project, Manhattan Project, World Wars and maybe Manipur too...to get a full hit of the movie.
Happy Weekend!
Cheers,
After 11 years ;)
Arvind
( I confess I was not involved in any Nuclear planning to stay away from this platform for so long ;) )
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