Best Pictures #105: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Oppenheimer

by A.J.

Best Pictures #105: 2023 (96th) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Oppenheimer

“Who would want to justify their whole life?”

A drama about the life of a scientist that is one of the biggest box office hits of the year. One of the greatest accomplishments in science that is also one of its worst. A story that is full of wonder and excitement and also dread and doom. A story about the past that feels like it is about today. A work of commerce that is also art. These things seem paradoxical, but as J. Robert Oppenheimer explains to his lone student about the new science of quantum physics, “It’s paradoxical, and yet, it works.” This is also true of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s 3 hour epic biopic of the “father of the atomic bomb,” which is indeed a heavy drama but also very entertaining. From start to finish it is a completely engrossing film that leaves a lasting impression on its audience. Nolan has made excellent films before (Memento (2000), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) Dunkirk (2017)), but Oppenheimer feels like a crowning achievement; it is easily the best movie of 2023.

This epic historical film features one of the most impressive ensemble casts in recent memory, and yet, at the center is a brilliant performance by Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer. Murphy, a longtime favorite of Nolan, finally gets a starring role in one of the director’s films, and not only that but one upon which the entire film depends. He captures the unlikely charisma of Oppenheimer–or “Oppy” as he affectionately called–and complexities and conflict that he tried to keep hidden. Oppenheimer was an unlikely choice to head up the Manhattan Project, especially given his left wing tendencies (an intellectual interest in communist ideas but not politics, and associations, including romances, with known or former communists), but the man in charge of the secret government nuclear bomb project, General Groves (Matt Damon), knows that “Oppy” is the right man for the job. 

Damon seems like he should be the antagonist; he is a pragmatist concerned with getting the project done and Oppenheimer is the creative idealist, but this actually makes them allies. Damon, who looks quite natural in a general’s uniform, also serves as the film’s sort of comic relief, or at least as a tension breaker. He is like the principal to Oppenheimer’s cool teacher, actually giving him a lot of leeway while keeping the higher ups off his back. Likewise, Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty, is also a pragmatist which also makes her a good partner for him, though they clash just like Groves and Oppenheimer clash. She too is a scientist, a biologist and botanist, but is relegated to the role of wife and mother. “Oppy” is most alive when doing theory work, managing Los Alamos, or talking about science and theory. This is fine for friends and fellow scientists but perhaps it explains why his relationships with his wife and on-again-off-again girlfriend turned mistress, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), feel very important but not very intimate and is the cause of the discord in each relationship. Both Blunt and Pugh give great performances as strong minded women who find happiness and strife with Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer’s true antagonist is admiral turned bureaucrat Lewis Strauss—pronounced “straws”—who Oppenheimer thinks so little of that he doesn’t even register as a rival. Robert Downey Jr., an immensely talented actor, gives his best and most complex performance in years. Strauss brings Oppenheimer to Princeton, where Einstein already works, seemingly to add to his collection of famous scientists. In interviews, Downey Jr compared his character to Salieri, the composer desperate for acknowledgment and so jealous of Mozart that plotted to kill him in Amadeus. He does a wonderful job playing a modern Salieri, a petty and frail ego, and his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor is most deserved. 

Strauss’s scenes, set in the 1950’s and shot in black and white, deal with his senate confirmation hearings for Commerce secretary in Eisenhower’s cabinet, but his questionable past treatment of Oppenheimer becomes the focus of the hearings. These scenes are intercut with a different timeline, shot in color, of Oppenheimer technically not on trial but in a hostile hearing to restore his government security clearance, though it is clear to all that the verdict is a foregone conclusion. He reads his life into the record and we see story of his early life and work at Los Alamos in flashbacks. Jumping from timeline to timeline sustains a steady momentum for each story and gives us a fuller understanding of events and the state of mind of the characters. It is also one of the things that keeps Oppenheimer from being a just straightforward biopic.

The supporting cast is a treasure trove of familiar names and faces including: Josh Harnett, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, David Krumholtz, Rami Malek, Alden Ehrenreich, and the list goes on and on. No matter how big or small the role, each cast member gives a great performance. Nolan and casting director John Papsidera wisely chose performers with distinctive and memorable faces, so even if you don’t remember every minor character’s name you still don’t lose track of them. 

The score by Ludwig Göransson is ever present but not intrusive. It is dramatic and abstract as needed and enhances the emotions and situations on film instead of cuing the audience on how to feel. The cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema is impressive not just because it utilizes the IMAX format to capture the vistas of New Mexico and the stunning splendor and horror of the clouds of fire of the first nuclear test, but also because of how it captures the actors. IMAX cameras lose focus easily, but Nolan and Van Hoytema turned this into an advantage by making great use of close ups–and performers like Murphy, Downey Jr, and Blunt know how make the most of a close up without overacting.  

At times Oppenheimer feels like a heist movie: a couple of characters have an impossible task to achieve in little time and must assemble a team and work out a practical plan. This is where the excitement comes in as Oppenheimer recruits scientists, many of whom are famous in their own right and have theories, equations, and labs named after them. They are in a race to beat the Nazis, who have a two year head start. They are also driven by the thrill of discovery and doing something that’s never been done before. Yet, over every moment looms the weight of the very real and terrible death and destruction of the atomic bomb. There are no scenes of carnage, no real life documentary footage or photos of the effects of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but Oppenheimer, and the audience, fully understand the horror of what has happened. “I have blood on my hands,” he says to an unmoved President Truman and his concerns about the consequences of the atomic age fall of deaf ears.

Nolan focuses the last hour of the movie on what is behind Oppenheimer’s haunted face. His masterful use of filmmaking leaves the audience haunted too. Nolan’s screenplay is based on the biography by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin titled American Prometheus and that is a perfect title for the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh), the Danish physicist who proved Einstein wrong about quantum theory tells Oppenheimer, “You are an American Prometheus. A man who gave them the power to destroy themselves.”