Oppenheimer: Nolan's Three-Hour Symphony About Death

Tony Leung cried.

At the recent Venice International Film Festival, the 61-year-old Chinese actor was honored with a lifetime achievement award. Departing from his usual reservedness and politeness in front of the public eye, he let tears flow freely before the camera. Many believe he teared up because of director Ang Lee’s comments.

"There is something in his eyes that’s electrifying. Not just his physical eyes or skill, but a soul that shines through them."

"His willingness to constantly share that vulnerability is what makes him so great."

Vulnerability is a complicated big-screen charisma. As a movie lover, I think vulnerability is the key for movie characters to connect with their audience. When we witness their vulnerabilities, we will appreciate how realistic these characters are. Hence, we can relate to them and feel more involved in the story.

Can you think of any actors who can convey vulnerability through their gaze? One such actor who comes to my mind is Cillian Murphy. Nowadays, it is difficult to not notice his presence on the big screen.

Christopher Nolan seems to have a soft spot for Murphy's captivating eyes. In Dunkirk, Murphy plays the soldier who almost drowned, and his tremulous gaze when he is on a small boat became the subject of fervent discussions among fans. This time, Nolan chose him to play the controversial scientist Oppenheimer.

The book cover of Oppenheimer's biography features a striking photo of himself with an enigmatic expression and a gaze that exudes both fragility and resolve. Similarly, in Nolan's films, we can see the same aura in Murphy.

What He Saw

At the start of the movie, Murphy exhibits the complex nature of Oppenheimer.

It begins with a towering blaze, creating a tense atmosphere for the audience. Oppenheimer then appears on the screen and through the look in his eyes, the viewers are taken back to the scientist's younger days in the 1920s.

In this opening scene, Oppenheimer has a solemn and bewildered look in his eyes. It reveals the inner struggles and confusion deep within him. This moment establishes a unique narrative tone for the entire film, allowing the audience to sense the protagonist's anxiety and emotional burden.

I am once again captivated by Oppenheimer's gaze after the success of the atomic bomb test.

As the head of the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer delivers a joyous celebratory speech to the scientists who have been working under him and contributed to the development of the atomic bomb. He rejoices at the fact that their efforts over the many years did not go in vain and that America can finally own an atomic bomb that can serve as a powerful weapon to destroy the world. However, his eyes are full of sadness when he is saying those words. I realize that he is delivering the speech without any emotions because inwardly, he questions and disapproves of everything.

He was a brilliant physicist, who was passionate about science, but burdened by immense guilt. The horrifying monster he had unleashed resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and had the capability to annihilate the world.

What He Heard

The atomic bomb explosion is shown only once in the movie. It is a very stunning scene that lasts only a few seconds. But this fleeting moment keeps coming back to haunt Oppenheimer, and it becomes something that he can never forget for the rest of his life.

Nolan portrays Oppenheimer's inner turmoil through horrifying cinematic sound effects. This is similar to how soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) returning from the battlefield are acutely sensitive to explosive sounds. The intimidating seconds-long explosion scene, together with Oppenheimer’s gaze at the start, permeates the entire movie in a fragmented fashion.

During Oppenheimer's early years of studying physics in Europe, he cannot take the sounds of colliding particles and the accompanying visuals off his mind. Though the visuals are beautiful, the sounds are jarring. Their abrupt emergence startled me when I was watching it in the movie theater. As difficult as it is to comprehend quantum mechanics from a macroscopic perspective, the world in Oppenheimer's mind is both romantic and dangerous.

After Oppenheimer joins the Manhattan Project to work on the development of the atomic bomb, as it starts to materialize, the collision sounds in his mind gradually intensify and eventually evolve into various deafening explosive sounds. As these sounds grow louder, I expect them to peak during the actual atomic bomb explosion. However, Nolan defies my expectation.

At that moment, all sounds are stripped away, and everything falls silent. The camera captures the beauty of the explosion flames from as many possible angles as it can. It is both real and dreamlike, mirroring Oppenheimer's inner feelings. As he says, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." As Oppenheimer and I immerse ourselves in this holy fire, the explosion sounds and shockwaves suddenly rush in. Dust billows, houses are overturned, and car windows shatter. While appreciating its beauty, we also realize its monstrosity.

The success of the atomic bomb experiment does not mark the end of the film, but a turning point in Oppenheimer's life.

If the story preceding the explosion is about how he becomes a god-like figure, what succeeds it will be the torment endured by him. The intertitle that appears with the film's opening scene featuring giant explosion flames mentions the story of Prometheus. He was chained to a rock and subjected to eternal torment for stealing fire from the gods to give it to humanity.

The Symphony In His Mind

Oppenheimer's struggles stem from both himself and external sources.

His inner turmoil arises after the success of the explosion. Apart from the vacant look in his eyes as previously mentioned, Nolan employs a series of spectacular "symphonies" to convey Oppenheimer's mental state. These symphonies combine visual and auditory elements, including thunderous stomping sounds, the mysterious blinding aura that shines brighter than the star and penetrates through one’s soul, the expressions of scientists seated under the stage who have gone mad during the speech, and harrowing scenes of Japanese victims. Together, they reveal Oppenheimer's thoughts at the time.

After the explosion, Oppenheimer is viewed as a hero by the world. However, he sees himself as a sinner. For instance, he vehemently opposes the need for America to further develop neutron bombs during a banquet. Nolan constantly incorporates deafening stomping sounds that Oppenheimer heard during his speech into this scene, which represents the latter’s nightmares and conveys his fear. It is unsurprising that he opposes further nuclear weapons development. This form of narrative remains Nolan's unique technique of "audio-visual symphony".

Nolan's storytelling ability extends beyond small details. The entire structure of the film functions as a large-scale "audio-visual symphony". He is an expert in manipulating time dimensions. As with his previous films, Oppenheimer has two main timelines. The first timeline – which is the focus of the movie- follows Oppenheimer's congressional hearing, where he is accused of being a traitor and forced to recall his past life while the second takes place five years later during Lewis Strauss’ (Robert Downey Jr.) hearing, which exposes how he persecuted Oppenheimer. Nolan is a master in storytelling who is able to seamlessly intertwine the two timelines to provide a captivating viewing experience.

Strauss's hatred towards Oppenheimer is worth pondering. It all stems from the inadvertent remarks Oppenheimer makes on several occasions that prick at Strauss's fragile ego. Although they seem insignificant to Oppenheimer, these remarks cause great discomfort to Strauss.

What bothers Strauss the most is Oppenheimer's conversation with Albert Einstein, which has nothing to do with himself. Oppenheimer has always been self-reprehensive about causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands using the atomic bomb, but Strauss, who launches a substantial attack on him, has no connections to the victims. Instead, Strauss is driven solely by jealousy and his sense of inferiority that are common characteristics of human nature. Upon reflection, everything seems absurd, but is undeniably real.

Similar to Strauss, there are many supporting characters in Oppenheimer that only make brief appearances but contribute greatly to the unique melody of this symphony.

In the final hour of the film, the switching of scenes between two congressional hearings pushes the film to its climax. If it ended in the second hour, it would be an excellent film. But the symphony that is played during the two hearings in the third hour makes Oppenheimer a noble film. It is not only a biography of a scientist but also a profound exploration of science, ethics, and humanity.

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