matt 🐢’s review published on Letterboxd:
When I first heard the news that Oppenheimer would be shown in 70MM IMAX at select theaters I recognized an incredible opportunity. There was a museum an hour away from home that was listed, but it dramatically disappeared from the list. The next closest screening was in New York City—so I looked my girlfriend dead in the eye and said “pack your bags sweetheart, we’re going to the Big Apple.” I hadn’t been to America’s greatest city in a couple of years, so we made a whole trip out of it. After putting in the requisite 20,000 steps, we began the pilgrimage to AMC Lincoln Square. I’ve spent months ogling at pictures of the theater, reading about others experiences, and letting myself get much too carried away in my ever growing anticipation. You could say I viewed this trip as a holy pilgrimage of sorts, and the payoff of seeing Oppenheimer in this setting is surely the closest I’ll ever get to seeing God.
I was fully sold on Oppenheimer from its first announcement. Nolan working on another World War II era story, centering around one of the most pivotal moments in human history sure sounded like a film made for someone who has a degree in American history. Nolan has had a long running obsession with characters who operate under extreme conditions and Oppenheimer more than fits that bill. But in a career first, Nolan tackles a historical figure in a groundbreaking biopic that turns the genre on its head.
It should come as no surprise that a Christopher Nolan biopic is nearly as revolutionary as the atomic bomb itself. Oppenheimer is a dense and unsettling three hour nightmare. Considering the only seats available were in the fourth row of what used to be the world’s largest IMAX screen, the experience was overwhelming to say the least. Once my eyes adjusted to looking up at the 76’ tall face of Cillian Murphy, I settled in for the most visceral movie of my life.
Much like the Prometheus of Greek mythology, Nolan posits Oppenheimer as a figure of equally tragic proportions. Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning biography “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, Nolan’s script perfectly encapsulates the feeling of doom that permeates through the authors’ prose. The book was recommended to me last summer by my uncle; I expected the 700 page biography would take some time to work through. However, as Oppenheimers life unfolded before my eyes on the pages, I found his tale to be utterly compelling. It turned out I became nearly as obsessed with Oppenheimer as the man himself was with the atom.
Consuming an entire man’s life in just a month proved to be emotionally draining. Even now, I find it nearly impossible to describe the emotions I felt in both reading the book and witnessing Murphy’s historic performance. Nolan’s screenplay masterfully captures the profound and utter sense of pain and regret that Oppenheimer experienced. Prometheus was tortured for eternity for gifting fire to humanity; after his success at Los Alamos, Oppenheimer’s country rewarded him by turning its back on its most brilliant mind. He may not have been relentlessly tortured, but the growing anti-communist sentiment in America during the post war period ensured he would be incessantly interrogated, tailed, and listened in on through illegal wire tapping. Murphy’s ice-cold blue eyes, one of the most defining features of the real Oppenheimer, feature an outpouring of raw emotion. It really is hard to quantify how heavy of a film this is, with the tragedy of Oppenheimer’s circumstances playing in stark contrast to the atrocities he made possible.
I already have tickets to see this again Monday because one overwhelming, out of body movie experience isn’t enough for a story of this magnitude. Oppenheimer is going to age extremely well, and could very well be one of the most important films ever made. I’m still reeling from the experience, ears still ringing a bit, but I will sleep peacefully knowing that if nuclear holocaust does ever come knocking, I’ll be able to throw this sucker on and let it all come full circle.
Previous Nolan: Tenet
