Review by christopher-cole83

History is hardly ever as straightforward and simple as we something believe it to be. The same goes for people like J. Robert Oppenheimer. In learning about World War II and the development of the atomic bomb, the thing I remembered the most was that he was a brilliant man who was suspected of being a communist, thereby tarnishing his legacy. That however seems to be somewhat of the straightforward simple history we tend to like.

Yet if this movie is as accurate as is claimed, a theorist (not just a theoretical physicist) might have an intellectual interest in leftist (specifically communist) ideas while, simultaneously, never fully committing. This was a theme touched on throughout the movie in which Oppenheimer was, in several instances, content to stick with theory.

When the Trinity test then took place and he saw what came from theory being put into practice, I do believe that fundamentally changed him. Wrestling with the unleashing of such power and knowing he led the scientists responsible for it, should really change anyone with a conscience.

What this picture does really well is show Oppenheimer neither as a saint who might have saved millions of lives at the cost of hundreds of thousands, nor as a sinner caught up in communism as might have been the case during the era of Joseph McCarthy and the Cold War. Rather, he was a man as brilliant as he was defiant, ordered as he was rogue, disciplines as he was cavalier. I believe Nolan, as the primary screenwriter and obviously director, respects us as the audience enough to leave it up to us to draw our own conclusions.