gemini://ayushnix.com/reviews/media/2023-09-04-oppenheimer.gmi

I saw this movie in an IMAX theater today with a friend. I don't usually go to theaters but I don't want to miss Christopher Nolan's movies anymore after not watching Inception (2010) in a theater.

The guy sitting next to me never came back to finish watching the movie after the intermission. I guess that explains what kind of movie this is. It's fairly long compared to most contemporary movies and has a lot of crafted dialogue that you'll need to focus on to understand what's going on. In addition, you'll need to be interested in history and politics surrounding the creation of the atomic bomb, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and you'll need to form an opinion about this to appreciate (or criticize) this movie. I've deducted one point from my review because Oppenheimer, the movie, doesn't focus as much as it should've on the aftermath of the atomic bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I'm not sure if one of the scenes where a person decided not to bomb Kyoto because he had visited there with his wife for his honeymoon is historically accurate but assuming that it is, this showcases how human beings can write off millions of civilians to death in two cities as points on a map. However, if they'd visited those cities and realized that the people there aren't really different from people elsewhere, they might have some reservations about condemning them to the aftermath of an atomic bomb.

It's also interesting to realize how humans can be detached and oblivious to the practical impact of their scientific discoveries and innovations. I guess building an atomic bomb might be fun for a physicist as an academic exercise but they might not care, may not understand, or may not want to understand the impact that it might have on the lives of civilians.

It's an interesting movie and I'd say that it's worth watching if you're okay with its length, its content, and aren't watching it because other people are.

Oppenheimer (2023)