Christopher Nolan is known for many masterpieces and popular works such as the “Dark Knight” trilogy, “Inception” (2010), and “TENET” (2020). His 12th feature film, “Oppenheimer,” is a biographical film depicting the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb.”
Nolan, who has worked on movie adaptations and remakes of existing works, including DC Comics’ popular hero Batman, has focused on genre films such as “SF”, “action” and “suspense”. This is the first time for him to make a film based on his real person. Nolan, who took on the challenge of war movies with Dunkirk (2017), revisits the World War II era with this film.
Starring Cillian Murphy, a regular in Nolan’s work. Co-stars include Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, and other leading faces in the current film industry. It was clear that this film would be Nolan’s biggest challenge yet and a turning point in her career. And when you actually open the lid, “Oppenheimer” is the true culmination of Nolan’s history.
Historical background of “Oppenheimer”
The year is 1954, after the end of World War II. The story begins with a hearing of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. At the time, the Cold War with the Soviet Union was intensifying, and a storm of “Red Scare” was raging in the United States, which violently suppressed communists. Because many of his relatives and friends were communists, Oppenheimer was suspected of being a Soviet spy.
During the war, Oppenheimer led the Manhattan Project, a top secret project aimed at developing and manufacturing an atomic bomb. The United States, which entered World War II, was concerned about Nazi Germany’s development of an atomic bomb and wanted to develop nuclear weapons as soon as possible. Under military officer Leslie Groves (Matt Damon), Oppenheimer works on research and development, and in July 1945, he successfully conducted the Trinity Test, the first nuclear test in human history. The following August, two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
However, Oppenheimer, who was the driving force behind the end of the war, completely changed his attitude after the war and opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, putting his position in jeopardy. He is stripped of his security clearance related to the atomic bomb due to suspicions of being a spy, and is subjected to harsh questioning. During his hearing, his personal life, from his student days to the Manhattan Project and the Trinity Experiment, is revealed.
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