OPPENHEIMER BREAKDOWN! Christopher Nolan Film Analysis & Details You Missed!

OPPENHEIMER tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s work with the Manhattan Project and his rivalry with Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.). Erik Voss breaks down Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer for the interesting filmmaking choices and details you might have missed!

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Written by: Erik Voss
Producers: Zach Huddleston & Brandon Barrick
Head of Production: John Costa
Post Production Supervisor: Riley Auskelis
Staff Editors: Drew Coombs, Joshua Steven Hurd
Editors: Aaron Carrion, Songvit Kiatpiriya
Camera Operator: Dashiell Hamingson

[theuniverse]

When Strauss is denied as well as Oppenheimer, I thought about Oppenheimer’s Scorpion speech earlier in the film where he speaks about the two scorpions destroying themselves. Strauss destroys his own career while trying to destroy Oppenheimer’s. Beautiful storytelling!

[Wtv]

I’ve never ever encountered a room full of people being so quiet and captivated by a movie for 3+ hours. This is Nolan’s magnum opus. Without a doubt.

[TheLastGuardian]

The scenes leading up to the Trinity Test and the subsequent speech by Oppenheimer getting drowned out by the voices under the pain of his own guilt were some of Nolan’s best work imo. This movie is his magnum opus and I hope Cillian Murphy wins an Oscar for his performance

[callumtindal]

I’ve never left the cinema feeling as empty and mind blown as I did after this amazing film

[timwise]

As someone who loves horror and disturbing media, that single scream when everyone’s cheering is drowned out at Oppenheimers speech was more haunting to me than any actual horror I’ve seen

[kenyaw]

I loved this movie. It humanized legendary men in science. I never thought about some of these men being in the same timeline...

[reidpattis]

If Cilian Murphy doesn't get an Oscar for this movie, then it just proves that the Oscars doesn't know how to remain objective. He absolutely acted his heart out in this movie, and it is the most compelling biopics that I've ever watched.

[emma_]

I watched this movie in an open air cinema. There was a moment during that final scene with Einstein and Oppie next to the pond, where it starts slowly raining. In the same moment it started to rain in real life. Goosebumps. Can't wait to watch it again, what an absolute masterpiece.

[AMZ_official]

It has one the best movie endings I have ever seen, it'll definitely be remembered for years to come

[mehrdadmahmoudi]

Kudos to you, the only review/analysis of Oppenheimer that caught the fact that Nolan did not shy away from the possibility of the US intelligence agencies most likely killing Jean Tadlock.

[gdxmebt]

I can't explain the emotions during the final scene of this movie, chills down my spine, it's just so incredibly done.

[cemdemir]

I also love the scene, where Oppenheimer wants Einstein to confirm the calculations on the possibility of triggering a never ending chain reaction. At the end when Oppenheimer want to leave, Einstein is giving him the note saying “this is yours, not mine”.
I think this is a great metaphor of Einstein not wanting to be part of creating a bomb, even though the bomb was based on his discoveries. Oppenheimer on the other hand builds the bomb on purpose making him the true owner of it.

[bagasaperdana]

Leading up to the test, I was nervous. Everybody knows including me that the test worked, but I was nervous it wouldn't. That's a testament to Nolan's ability to engage an audience so much that we're so immersed. Plus, I saw it in IMAX which was very immersive.

[joaoascencao]

I just want to point that Strauss doesn't immediately believe that Oppenheimer and Einstein are talking about him by the lake. He later rationalizes this because of the actions following 1947 where Oppenheimer would attempt to go against Strauss' positions at every turn. From the latter's perspective, Oppenheimer suddenly stopped supporting the H-bomb (which Strauss favored) and went so far as to humiliate him at an isotopes committee hearing. Also Oppenheimer denied the existence of a spy at Los Alamos which turned out to be wrong. The point is that Oppenheimer 's actions after 1947 from Strauss' perspective are that he tried at every turn to turn the scientific community and DC against him. Therefore it makes sense in his head that this would start with the Einstein chat by the lake.

[Moose]

The apple is also the biblical symbol for knowledge. So, Oppenheimer is literally making "knowledge" dangerous. Using poisoned knowledge to potentially do harm until he realizes the severity of the outcome and pulls back. This realization turned regret is reflected later with his involvement in creating the bomb. In the scene where Oppenheimer pulls the apple away from Bohr's mouth, Bohr tells Oppenheimer if he wants to lift the rock, he must be ready for the snake (serpent) waiting underneath. Additionally, after Adam and Eve bite the forbidden fruit (which again is representing knowledge) they commit original sin. Later in the film, Kitty tells Oppenheimer he doesn't get to commit the sin (of sleeping with Jean - another kind of forbidden fruit) and then have people feel sorry for him.

[REDDEVIL]

This film really now importantly shows why actors and writers cannot be replaced! Every actor outperformed in this film

[sstteevveenn]

This made me appreciate the movie even more. A friend and I were talking about the film & I mentioned I would have liked to see the actual bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki. He then replied well the movie's called Oppenheimer not The Bomb. Touché

[timcogan]

Just came out of a 70mm showing. In my opinion, Nolan’s greatest film and a true masterpiece.

[stevenmccallum]

This is Christopher Nolan's best work hands down. It's very rare you get a cinema where everyone at the end is in complete silence, contemplating every minute of what they've just seen. The film is soo engrossing to the extent that the 3hr runtime doesn't seem that long enough. It's also incredibly poignant - the consequences of Oppenheimer's creation is far-reaching, and could have catastrophic repercussions for all of us today. I'm still gathering my thoughts about it.

[SpartanBrix]

The ending scene gave me the thousand-yard-stare until I got home from the theater. Oppenheimer is a horror movie in disguise, and it the greatest horror movie I have ever seen.