Oppenheimer: What the Movie Got Right and Wrong

In this analysis of Oppenheimer, we explore the intricacies of the characters and themes, and reveal the gaps that exist between the movie's portrayal of events and the historical reality.

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[Ludvigvanamadeus]

The reason Nolan emphasised the probability of setting the world on fire so much is revealed at the end of the movie, when Oppenheimer during his conversation with Einstein says that he is afraid they actually DID set the world on fire, though not literally. He is using it as a metaphore for the threat of nuclear armageddon.

[ashleytupper]

People thought a movie called Oppenheimer would only focus on the Manhattan Project?? It’s called OPPENHEIMER, it’s literally in the title

[natashasullivan]

Also to remember, this movies is based on the book American Prometheus. A book about Oppenheimer and his life. How is life was affected by the Manhattan project, and the war, by the Mcarthy era politics. Not about the war, or about the dropping of the bombs per say.
From what I've been told the movie does the book justice for what it needed to cram in.

[YanBaoQin]

Nuclear technician here, you did a pretty good job describing the physics, on par with my level of instruction when i was teaching beginners

[cadenmorse]

Strauss as portrayed in the film wasn't so much greedy as he was paranoid. Also Truman called Oppenheimer a "crybaby" not a coward.

[nikolaynikolov]

My favourite scene was when at the party, Oppenheimer got asked if he was familiar with communist ideas and he replied that he had read the original "Das Kapital" in German. The other guy replied "Ahh then you know more than the average party member". And this really made me grin, because it is actually true. And on top of that Adam Smith was banned in the USSR so even the people, who have read Marx's books, could not understand it, since it is a critique of Adam Smith's ideas.

[DoctorLoudonclear]

I’m not as versed in the historical side of this, but coming form the film side, Nolan used the black and white segments to represent what we know/think objectively happened whereas the segments in color represent Oppenheimer’s subjective perspective, which may not have actually happened the way we see.

[aquapb]

I only caught onto the heavy water scene because of your Norway sabotage scene. Thanks for adding to my movie experience

[AceSpades]

I took my sister to this movie and I have to say it was an absolutely amazing experience. She doesn’t usually like movies like this that make you think and question morality and stuff like that but as I was explaining some details she didn’t know while we watched she actually really enjoyed it. Normally she falls asleep with movies like that but she payed attention to the entire movie. Amazing movie and will see multiple times

[jswilson]

Christopher Nolan is a filmmaker that truly emphasizes using film and theater as a medium. He also loves non-sequential storytelling (Memento, Tenet) or messing with time in some way (Inception, Interstellar).

[Gallalad]

I will say to be fair to the film's bias, I look at it as a film FROM Oppenheimers perspective. So the less than charitable portrayals of politicians to me were deliberate

[mikej]

Get some trinitite! Trinitite rocks.
Trinitite was the substance formed when the Trinity device detonated, sucked up the sand, liquified it, then the molten radioactive glass fell around the Trinity site. It's a unique piece of history. It is illegal to collect from the Trinity site but any collected before 1950 can be bought and sold.

[dailydiogenes]

I found the setting the atmosphere on fire a double entendre as where if the initial nuke wouldn't the thought of a cold war could. And I feel this is addressed later in the movie with the ripples in the pond scene. Even if the first nuke doesn't set fire to the atmosphere say we shoot a nuke at Russia then they shoot one then we shoot 5 then they shoot 5 then we shoot 10 then they shoot Atmosphere is still on fire you feel?😅

[BackYardScience]

12:45, potassium cyanide is a solid. Straight cyanide (HCN) is a gas. You either need potassium or sodium cyanide, or any other solid cyanide to do any sort of poisoning unless you're doing it in a gas chamber. Only then can you use straight cyanide. Cyanide itself is also acidic, so if a gas is used it will react with whatever it touches to produce solid cyanides.

[Night-Fire-njrd]

The thing that stood out the most to me was when I saw Josh ask Drake where Hiroshima was

[gingerfurrdjedi]

I finally saw it last night! Great watch!! He's not joking, the sounds in the theater we're palpable and I'm glad I listened to my wife and went to see it in the theater! You could literally feel it!

[phenom]

When I saw the title i hoped you would mention the apple. Im about halfway through American Promethues and reading what I have really enhanced my second viewing. Alot of little things you miss but if you've read the book you can catch.

Regarding Oppenheimer as a Soviet Spy, there really is little to no evidence he was. However there is a letter written from a Soviet diplomat to Beria (yes that Beria) which specifically mentions Oppenheimer is a Soviet agent. However its likely this is an overstatement or the writer is attempting to make himself seem more successful than he was. That said we would know by now if Oppenheimer was a deep cover agent as there is no reason for Russia to hide that info.

Enjoyed the video and would love to more takes on the history of this movie.

[Versatilty]

It is a very good movie. Make sure to see if in IMAX if possible it is worth it.

[robertortiz-wilson]

I really appreciated your overall commentary, especially in relation to the Cold War!

[cleanerben]

I like how everybody always forgets the Chinese front. The worst front of the entire war. Also the oldest front given that it started in 37