Oppie
Last night Magdalena and I went to see Oppenheimer at the Garden Theater in Princeton.
It was opening weekend and when the first scene set in Princeton came on screen, an enthusiastic cheer went across the audience.
Oppenheimer is an epic thriller released just days after the 78th anniversary of the first atomic explosion - the "Trinity test" - on July 16, 1945 at White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is a magnum opus. The run time is 3 hours. The budget was $100M. There are more than fifty actors named in the credits. It was shot in 70 mm IMAX format.
There can be no short written summary.
Instead, I just want to remember a few things that stayed with me after watching.
It helped greatly to have read American Prometheus, the 720-page Oppenheimer biography prior to seeing the film. Although the film is not a straight play of the book, authors Bird and Sherwin's extensive research informed many of the details. And with so much time-shifting going on in the movie, it helped me to follow along. (Truth is, I didn't read the book, I listened to the Audible version, which clocked in at 26.5 hours.)
Although most of Oppie's life was clipped from the movie (his early and later lives were largely left out) to focus on the Manhattan Project, the Atomic Energy Commission security hearing, and the Strauss cabinet confirmation - some of my favorite scenes were from his university years and early career. This is when he came to maturity as a theoretical physicist. First at the Cavendish Lab in Cambridge. Then Göttingen. And later at Cal Tech and Berkeley. I especially liked the CGI visualizations - luminous, vibrating lines - showing how Oppie imagined molecular spins worked.
As the plot started to bounce between the project at Los Alamos and the hearings in Washington DC, one can see Oppie's world shifting from the pure pursuit of new knowledge to one of human power relations. His hopes and fears getting distorted as military and political figures started to wrestle for control, oblivious to the responsibilities that came along with it.
Years after the war, a short conversation between Oppie and an aged Albert Einstein at the edge of the pond at the Institute for Advanced Study reveals his deep concerns about where his "gadget" had led. The catastrophic chain reaction that would ignite the world's atmosphere had failed to materialize (phew!), but another one had taken its place. One where nations seek to build bigger and more powerful bombs. And where the inventors were pushed to the side, punished for their role by a fate of never-ending "salmon and potato salad" awards dinners.
Speaking of awards, Oppenheimer appears to be headed toward an explosive box office success. It has already beat initial ticket sales targets, taking in more in revenue in the first weekend than was outlayed in total for the of production.
The film has momentum, and I hope as many see it as possible to increase understanding of this momentous part of our shared history and to take a spark of inspiration from this singular person.
