By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB
Los Alamos

The long-awaited, Christopher Nolan film “Oppenheimer”, has arrived in the little town that J. Robert Oppenheimer built. Having been the scene of much of the filming, Los Alamos has been abuzz all month in anticipation of the first screenings at our local theater. An Oppenheimer Festival provided a series of film documentaries, lectures from scientists and historians, and conversations with locals who served as extras in the film, most of it at SALA Los Alamos Event Center. SALA will run Nolan’s Oppenheimer film now through July 30, according to their website. 

Director Nolan used, as his source for the film, material from the book “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.” The focus of his film clearly is J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man—his history, his commitments, and his strengths. The film skips back and forth between Oppie’s career and experience of the Manhattan Project, and a 1950s Senate confirmation hearing (shown in black and white) and his appeal to a security clearance board. 

There are a great many famous scientific characters to note, usually named. For the most part, the audience is able to keep up with the skipping around and the number of characters. After viewing the film for the first time, my complaint is that the appropriately dramatic musical score often overwhelms the dialogue. For all these reasons, the film will bear seeing more than once.

Oppenheimer the film is not a documentary. Films that tell the story of the atomic bomb do exist, should one want that story. Instead, this is the story of a man who served his country and accomplished a scientific feat few others—even with a team of scientists—could have managed, and yet who ended up vilified for speaking his mind about the future purpose of the weapons he helped to create. Along the way, the film shows scenes filmed at Berkeley and Princeton, and around New Mexico, in Abiquiu, at Ghost Ranch, in Los Alamos, Albuquerque and Belen.

One early theme in the film is Oppenheimer’s (and the other scientists’) circumspection about what splitting the atom might mean for the future of the planet. Another, broader theme deals with the ways people inadvertently or purposely do damage to one another. The realization of these key themes may not be flawless, but their presentation in this film truly is compelling.

As for the acting, it was superb. Cillian Murphy will no doubt be nominated for his portrayal of Oppie; he truly embodied the man. Robert Downey, Jr., plays with intensity Lewis Struss, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Matt Damon’s General Groves has some good scenes. Emily Blunt as wife Kitty Oppenheimer, and Florence Pugh as mistress Jean Tatlock help to bring out Oppie’s human side. Many known actors play key scientists and politicos. And local folks may recognize people they know as extras, scientists in the background or their spouses.

Oppenheimer is “Rated R for some sexuality, nudity and language.” Oppenheimer’s extramarital affair with Tatlock led Nolan to incorporate a sex scene in the film. Sadly, were it not for this one scene, younger filmgoers might be able to see the film and learn more about the trials and triumphs of J. Robert Oppenheimer, considered by history as the father of the atomic bomb.