Michel’s review published on Letterboxd:
breaking my recent rule about only writing reviews for movies I've seen or rewatched because it's Oscars night, I have some thoughts, and I don't want to subject myself to watching this again. in lieu of a comment I wanted to leave on my dear mutual emilyrugburn's latest post, I give you this:
this movie is on my shit list for many reasons, not the least of which how it fundamentally denies what it's purportedly about—a complicated picture of the man who invented the nuclear bomb—as it doesn't really go into any of his active involvement in promoting nuclear colonialism, nor does it make an affecting point about how his guilt is limited by his privilege and arrogance. the more you know the actual history the more clear it gets that it's not only morally lacking for this film to exposit Oppenheimer's genius without acknowledging how that "genius" was predicated on callous dismissal of human lives (even outside of Los Alamos, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki), it's also narratively lacking because we don't get that whole context.
our idea of this man is a glass half-full and so the story we're left with is less engaging, less incisive, and far less valuable.
I still think my original review for this was way too kind. anyways check out my Supergirl writeup.
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