Oppenheimer

[Prrambulate]

Anyone planning on seeing this when it comes out on 21st July?

I'm looking forward to a fascinating exploration of the life of the atom bomb inventor gazing at Cillian Murphy for 3 hours.

Some recent promotional stills. The horse riding one gives off Peaky vibes!

@sunglassesonthetable it is, isn’t it?! I must add we saw it last night and we’re captivated. Yes the sound was difficult, as was the plot line, but we found ourselves drawn in and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was certainly thought provoking! I was left feeling like I need to learn more. It was good to see a few young people in the audience too. One of them got chatting to my oh after and said how much he had enjoyed it and how moved he had felt by it.

thank you to those who have added their insights. I missed the fusion and fission aspect. I did wonder, however, if Nolan had deliberately chopped up the time line to show an aspect of quantum, how time isn’t linear? (My understanding is very limited tho so I may be way out!)

I think that some of the leaping about was to develop the feeling of the 'race' to get the bomb.
Like AI, idealistic scientists and technologists feel that their working to an end (in Oppenheimer's case, defeating Hitler) but those writing the cheques have further ambitions, so using the new gadget to defeat Japan, intimidate Russia and/or demonstrate the end of the rule of the British Empire... all become acceptable options.

Watching now. So far it's failing the Bechdel test. Quite spectacularly.
Also is it my old ears or are they all mumbling?

Of course Oppenheimer fails the Bechdel Test because the dominant history of The Manhattan Project and the security council hearing, as presented in American Prometheus (the source material Nolan used), also fails the Bechdel Test.

The film is about Oppenheimer, his life and his work - it only focuses on the women relevant to him and those wome did not intersect except in relation to him. Hundreds of women worked on the Manhattan Project but the film wasn't about the MP so they weren't highlighted except for the couple who directly interact with Oppenheimer in the film. The Security council hearing has no female involvement (beyond Kitty and Jean's relevence) because it was held at a time when women didn't have anywhere near as much influence, involvement or power so of course they aren't going to be involved in the narrative, and even if they were then it would have been in relation to discussing Oppenheimer, so would still fail the Bechdel Test.

Would you have preferred the film to shoehorn a random scene of two women having a chat about the weather just to pass the Bechdel Test or accept that a film about a specific man and his life and work is going to spend 99% of it's focus on said man ...

To be fair to the poster I don't think there is any Nolan film that meets the Bechdel test. But in this case it's kind of pointless gauge since every scene in the movie either includes Oppenheimer or consists of other characters talking about Oppenheimer.

I think what I meant by 'spectacularly' is that it goes above and beyond to fail. The only interaction is a deliberately inserted one to show a semi naked female character inciting jealousy. My 25 yo DD and I groaned and eye rolled when we saw it.
Jean was more interesting that the thrice seen semi naked character she is portrayed as. In my opinion.

But the movie isn't about Jean. Or Kitty. Or Hornig. Or Teller. Or Lawrence. Or Grove. Or Pash. Or any other person except Oppenheimer.

The film is about Oppenheimer and everyone else is literally there to talk to or about Oppenheimer, including the women.

As for the scene with Jean/Kitty in the security council meeting that was done to show just how humiliated Kitty felt that Oppenheimer was prioritising his wants (to clear his name) over her, and making her listen to it all when he could have stopped it at any time.

@melj1213 I understand why that scene was there. But I feel it was obvious that Kitty was humiliated without seeing what we were shown.