 J. Robert Oppenheimer's story is one of the most disturbing and significant of the modern period. Yet all but the most basic details have been mostly forgotten. This makes Christopher Nolan's self-titled movie both important and difficult. It has a difficult plot, as do world-changing sagas, so it's uncertain whether many audiences would persevere with it. Despite its three-hour run time, the plot itself is unpleasant, heartbreaking, and even startling. And the fact that most of its contents will be unfamiliar to most viewers may encourage them to delve further into it. It's a mind-blower, not simply for Nolan's aesthetic innovations. Some people have begun investigating the famed Oppenheimer biography that served as the inspiration for the movie, American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, which was released in 2005, just made its debut on the list of best-sellers for paperback editions. Oppenheimer was named director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, the main facility of the $2 billion top-secret Manhattan project. The World War II effort developed the atomic bomb when he was 38 years old. He had been an outstanding theoretical physicist and a pioneer in the cutting-edge field of quantum mechanics. He had never been in charge of a project, was bad at experimental, a.k.a. real-world or hands-on physics, and wasn't even the most talented scientist among the hundreds who worked nearby. However, he was very charming, picked up on ideas with uncanny quickness, and understood how success in one area may shock advancement in another. So he made it work in ways that perhaps no one else could. He rose to prominence as the most well-known scientist in the world after the war, appearing on the cover of Time Magazine and being hailed as the father of the atomic bomb. A few years later, he voiced concerns about his work, spoke out against the development of the much more potent hydrogen bomb, and called for international controls on all WMDs. As a result, he was blacklisted by influential nuclear figures and had his security clearance revoked by a tribunal that was just as biased and vindictive as any of the other red-baiting panels from the Cold War. Although it was foolish to paint Oppenheimer as a Soviet spy, it is also incorrect to glorify him as a martyr who loved peace. As many of his supporters have done, by creating a nuanced portrayal of a wounded person who is both fascinated by science and tormented by remorse over the housecape it unleashed, the movie avoids falling into that trap. He is adamant about maintaining his scientific independence, yet he is also accommodating in his position as an advisor to power. He is conflicted about practically everything, but he is assured of his views. He really did. As the movie shows, out of the Bhagavad Gita verse, now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. While seeing the A-bombs first test in the desert just outside of Los Alamos, the New Mexico town where most of the bomb building took place, he actually did exclaim, I have blood on my hands. When he met with President Harry Truman after the bombs he helped manufacture, destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Moreover, Truman, who had no regrets about dropping the bombs, actually told an assistant rather than speaking to Oppenheimer directly as he does in the movie, don't let that crybaby in here again. However, Oppenheimer was also enthusiastic about the bomb. After hearing about Hiroshima, he waved his fist in front of a group of scientists and shouted to laugh her in applause that he was certain the Japanese didn't. Oppenheimer said his only regret was that he and his colleagues hadn't finished the bomb in time to use it against the Germans. After receiving a letter from two of the most eminent physicists of the time, Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard, warning that German scientists had discovered how to split in atom and could use this knowledge to create an extremely powerful bomb. We needed to move quickly to prevent losing the war. After Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the Manhattan Project in 1942, as it turned out, the German scientists failed to stop the Allied army from defeating the Nazis in the spring of 1945. The intentions to launch the bomb on Japan were changed by Truman, who took office following Franklin D. Roosevelt's death because Japan continued to fight. After the war, Oppenheimer experienced depression, maybe as a consequence of seeing the film of the Horace's bombs wreaked on tens of thousands of victims. However, many military leaders and some scientists lobbied for the development of a hydrogen bomb, which would be 1,000 times more potent than the atomic bombs that ended World War II, in anticipation of a potential conflict with Russia. Although Oppenheimer opposed the H-Bomb project, his objections weren't only moral. He first believed it to be impossible. When the math showed that it was possible, he eventually gave up and acknowledged that it was too technically sweet not to develop. The movie fails to include this very well-known comment. He remained unenthusiastic, though, fearing that funding for Hiroshima-style A-bombs, which he believed the army should continue developing as a means of defense in case the Soviets invaded Western Europe, would be diverted to the H-bombs. He said that H-bombs couldn't destroy anything other than large cities in the battle, and that if the Russians created them, as they would if we did, a conflict would destroy American cities. As shown in the movie, he finally came to believe that this shared weakness may prevent both sides from utilizing their weapons, or even starting a convert. He wasn't against nuclear weapons in general. Oppenheimer was still quite influential at this time. In the early 1950s, among scientists, lawmakers, and the general public, he served as the director of the Institute for Advanced Study of Princeton, where Einstein continued to work, as well as the head of the Atomic Energy Commission's advisory board. His hesitant response to the H-bomb jeopardized the project's finance. Its major proponents decided to eliminate him as a result. To determine whether his security clearance should be withdrawn, they established a tribunal. He could not participate in establishing, or even knowing about, atomic policy without a cue security clearance. Oppenheimer exposed himself to assault. He had supported some of the Communist Party's ideals, which at the time included racial integration, a minimum wage, and assisting the anti-fascist troops in the Spanish Civil War as a fellow traveler in the 1930s and early 1940s. Albeit, he was probably not a card-carrying member of the party. In addition, his wife Kitty, played by Emily Blunt, had formerly been a party member, as had his brother and a number of his close friends. While teaching physics at Burke, he attended a number of the party's chapter meetings. Due to these links, his security clearance was delayed even after he was appointed Director of Los Alamos in 1943. General Leslie Groves, the project's military direct-blade by Matt Damon, had to push for the approval. Being left-wing during the 1930s, the Great Depression, or even the early 1940s, when the United States and the Soviet Union were friends in the fight against Nazi Germany, was one thing. However, the Cold War was still going strong in 1954 when the panel conducted its sessions. It was dismissed as trivial to make the distinction between a fellow traveler, a Communist, and a Soviet spy. Oppenheimer's phones had been monitored by the FBI for several years. The tribunal acquired the TAP transcripts, but because the proceedings weren't a trial, he didn't feel compelled to provide the information to Oppenheimer or his attorneys. Even his phone chats with his attorney were reported. They also quizzed Oppenheimer about an affair he'd had with a previous lover, Gene Tatlock, who was portrayed by Florence Pugh in the film. While his wife was in the hearing room, they caught him on differences between his recollection and the record of the phone taps. Kitty was aware of this, but was ashamed that her husband's abusers were also aware of it. The details of the movie focuses mostly on these hearings. You may question whether the scenes are true. Since his interrogators are shown as being so blatantly hostile, but they are, they were practically verbatim, copied from the transcripts of the hearing, which were released many years ago. As a savvy, self-made businessman and the head of the Atomic Energy Commission, Lewis Strauss, the tribunal is shown by Nolan as a weapon of personal vengeance. In addition to being a passionate supporter of the agents, Strauss, played eerily by Robert Downey Jr. had also endured Oppenheimer's humiliation first during a public congressional year, and then again at AEC meetings. And Strauss never forgot this. Oppenheimer made a lot of enemies because of his propensity to harass or make fun of those who weren't as intelligent as he was, which included practically everyone. He also erred by alienating Strauss, whose capacity for resentment was unfathomable. Lewis believes you're simply an idiot at first if you disagree with him on anything. One of Strauss' coworkers subsequently said, but if you continue to agree with him, he assumes you're a traitor. One of the scientists from Los Alamos, Edward Teller, played by Benny Saff caused further harm. Even though the A-bomb project was ongoing, Teller had become impatient with it and wanted to go on with an H-bomb. He argued with Oppenheimer about it. Teller lobbied for the establishment of a separate lab for the construction of H-bombs after the war. Teller testified against Oppenheimer at the hearing in order to defame him since he rejected the proposal. Oppenheimer's clearance was revoked by the tribunal by a two-to-one margin. For a new facility in Livermore, California, Teller received funding. Both Livermore and Los Alamos are still in use. The incident sparked a controversy and split the scientific community into Tellerhawks and Oppenheimer Doves, which led both sides to become more adamant about their viewpoints. Additionally, it widened the gap between scientists and the administration. Many scientists questioned their ability to provide guidance without sacrificing their beliefs. The harm to society was immeasurable. Oppenheimer was finally vindicated in two phases. President Dwight Eisenhower proposed Strauss for the position of Secretary of Commerce in 1959. However, David Hill, a physicist on the Manhattan Project, who was rivetingly portrayed by Remy Mallick, claimed that Strauss had orchestrated the campaign against Oppenheimer out of petty retaliation. Because of this, the Senate denied the candidacy, which was a first for a cabinet candidate since 1925, which, incidentally, was not included in Byrd and Sherman's book. It was discovered by Nolan alone. Then, in 1963, President Lyndon Johnson presented Oppenheimer with the Fermi Honor, one of the most esteemed in American science. This honor came with a financial prize of $50,000, or about $500,000 in today's dollars. Teller extended Oppenheimer's hand at the White House event, and he shook it. Kitty didn't, and she appropriately glared. Both triumphant moments are faithfully portrayed in the movie. Their marriage was considerably more turbulent than the movie portrays, but it's realistic in that it shows her continually advising her husband to defend himself against his enemies. Despite clonking in at three hours, this narrative leaves out several important details. Expecting a picture of scientists working together as a team is unrealistic. The Manhattan Project required a huge team effort, but not much of it will be seen in the movie, except for Teller, all the other scientists, such great, colorful characters as Hans Beth, Enrico Fermi, George Kistiakowski, and many others are shown as ciphers in walk-on appearances with the exception of Ernest Lawrence, played by Josh Hartnett, and Isidore Ravi, played by David Krumholz, to a lesser degree. Watch, if you can locate the BBC's 1980 seven-part drama, Oppenheimer, which starred Sam Waters for a more comprehensive understanding of the endeavor, or even better, Reed Richard Rhodes, the making of the atomic bomb, or American Prometheus. The whole movie is an immersion experiment, meant to give us a sense of what it would be like to be Robert Oppenheimer, and it's very successful in this endeavor. Having Killian Murphy in the lead role aids, Oppenheimer sometimes looked to be an ethereal entity, a creature from another realm, as shown by his lanky bill, ungainly walk, and wide eyes. In addition to mastering the most obscure new physics principles, he also studied extensively in numerous languages and in-depth works of history, philosophy, and literature. Based on having studied the language for six weeks beforehand, the movie depicts him giving a lecture on quantum physics to an audience in the Netherlands, in Dutch. We certainly get a feel of Oppenheimer's charisma, pride, and his dash of madness. And it's possible that a guy needed all three to take in the surreal eeriness of quantum physics so thoroughly and intuitively. It's also true, by the way, that he left a poison apple for one of his professors while he was a graduate student. The movie finishes with a flashback to just after World War II, when Oppenheimer and Einstein played delightfully by Tom Conte, are conversing by a lake in Princeton and discussing whether or not their joint creation would one day burn the whole planet in flames. This incident never took place, at least not according to Bird Insurance autobiography. However, it's a clever use of a dramatic lens that perfectly captures the remorse that many of the scientists who worked on the bomb fell. Some of them became passionate advocates for nuclear weapons control, led by Zillard and supported to some degree by Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer is intended to be more than just a biography or historical drama, according to Nolan. In a discussion that followed the film's screening, he claimed that scientists are currently experiencing their own Oppenheimer moment, particularly in the development of artificial intelligence. Another new technology that is too appealing on the surface, what may ultimately reshape humanity more than humanity can do. He also cautioned the audience that although while the hydrogen bomb had succeeded in preventing conflicts between the main powers for the 78 years since Hiroshima, this good fortune may not continue indefinite. Everyone still lives in the Oppenheimer period.