An explosion of review after my fusion of thoughts on watching Oppenheimer movie

 

I went on a Friday evening to Oppenheimer movie after the end of a busy day. Initially I thought it might be tough for me to sit through a biopic for 3 hrs., which is the duration of the movie.    I had been fed on a diet of Hindi and south Indian movies right from my childhood, which required less use of my brain.  My family also believed that I will go on a sleep mode during an intellectually challenging movie.  So it was a challenge for me to prove that I am not   challenged intellectually.  I spent some time gathering information about the movie.   Every minute of it turned out to be worthwhile.  I was glued to watching the movie for the entire duration.

The experience of watching the movie was very touching and   unfathomable.  Can a documentary on a biopic of a scientist touch a chord in someone’s heart?   This movie has been able to achieve it.

The movie  is during world war II,  the  Lt Gen  Leslie  Groves has appointed  the  renowned Physicist Robert Oppenheimer  to work on a  secret Manhattan Project .  Oppenheimer assembles a team of scientists having expertise in the different related areas in developing and designing the atomic bomb.   The result of the project comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, with the world’s first nuclear explosion which was the defining moment in the world and impacted the future course of the history.

The trials  and tribulations  faced  by Dr Oppenheimer  has  been captured  beautifully and there  are many poignant  moments. His sparks of brilliance has been shown during his initial research days.

He learnt Dutch language in a short time and gave quantum physics lecture in the Dutch language.

It was known to the world that he was a great physicist but the movie depicts his humanness to the core.  The initial  purpose  of developing an atomic  bomb  as per him, was  to act as a deterrent so that another country which may develop it earlier  may  not  misuse it.    Later on after developing the bomb he realizes it that the decision to where to use it or not rests with the government.  President Truman decided to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war.  It is told that the Japanese army was retreating but Truman wanted to test the bomb. The bombing effect was loss of thousands of lives.   His decision is still debated whether there was another peaceful way to end the war.  

Initially Dr.Oppenheimer was the hero of the entire country.  Since he did not approve with the government views, he was systematically defamed.  His agony can be felt very strongly by the viewers.

A scientist bent of mind is to explore things through theorizing and experimenting. The quest for exploring and discovering new things cannot be stopped. It is inbuilt in a scientist’s DNA.  But certain  discoveries  can be misused to  harm the human kind.   In the movie it is shown well that creating an atomic bomb was putting the genie out of the bottle.  As per the  interaction  between  Einstein  and oppenheimer, they both  realize  that through  their  discoveries, they have done something  which  will impact the man kind for a long   time to come. But can the march of scientific discovery be stopped or must it be regulated? The jury is still out.

Dr. Oppenheimer was influenced by communism to some extent.  He had read the three books of Das capital in the original German language. He had understood  the  concept  in its true meaning  and not how the  government’s around the  world  view  communism  and capitalism and use  it for their own  selfish motives.

Dr.Oppenheimer though he was a famous scientist, was foremost an humanist at the core and his core belief, shaped his entire thinking.  The  film  brings across  strongly  that  all  isms  whether communism  or capitalisms   are  useless  unless  humanism  is practiced  by the world. If not the world is hurtling towards the total destruction of humanity. Oppenheimer till his last breath could not get rid of the feeling that he was a merchant of death by his creation, though he knew that he had no control on its usage.