Oppenheimer

In cinemas now

Few filmmakers have thawed the boundaries of mainstream cinema like Christopher Nolan has, the British director having repeatedly shown that there is a market for intellectually stimulating big-budget pictures. His latest, Oppenheimer, is perhaps his most daring release to date, it being an extensive, three-hour character study of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who pioneered nuclear weaponry as the scientific head of the Manhattan Project.

Like all of Nolan’s work, Oppenheimer is a meticulously researched affair (Nolan’s screenplay was adapted from Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2005 biography American Prometheus) and a visually daring spectacle, one that justifies its creator’s insistence that it be seen exclusively in cinemas. The film’s narrative is typically non-linear and focuses on various aspects of Oppenheimer’s life, from his extraordinary scientific achievements to his philandering sexual exploits and moral unease with the socio-political ramifications of his life’s work.

Cillian Murphy is astounding in the titular lead role, making for a diminutive screen presence whose oscillating but always subtle facial expressions say more than his words ever could. It is a towering, awards-worthy turn from an actor who has long deserved the status of a leading man, one that is underpinned by a supporting cast that can only be described as an embarrassment of riches. Of those side players, it is Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and - in particular - Robert Downey Jr. that stand out, although this always remains very much Murphy’s picture.

Oppenheimer is also laudable for its astonishing special effects, virtually none of which were created using computer-generated imagery. Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema’s decision to shoot in both IMAX and traditional 65mm large-format film, as well as IMAX black-and-white analog photography, ensures the film of an engrossing aesthetic that is never more profound than during its Trinity Project scene, which was remarkably created using actual explosives.

What is perhaps most impressive about this biopic though is the measured way in which it tells one of the most morally complex life stories of all time. While the film is unafraid to explore the spiritual agony that its subject endured in the wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it never casts judgement on him, which makes for a rewardingly subjective and emotionally challenging viewing experience.

Indeed, one cannot help but be impressed by Nolan’s ability to take historical fact and transform it into an epic thriller, and long may such subversion continue.