Has anyone on PF seen the film "Oppenheimer"?

[StatGuy2000]

Hi everyone! As I'm sure many of you here on PF know, the latest Christopher Nolan film, "Oppenheimer" -- about the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, focusing on his role on the Manhattan Project, and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin -- is now in theatres.

Has anyone here on PF seen the film? If so, what are your thoughts on the film? And has any of you read the original source book on which this film is based on?

 

[.Scott]

I plan on seeing it - and comparing it to the 1980 BBC version.
A week and a half ago, I watched the first 5 episodes (of 7) of that series - up to the end of WW2.
It was pretty good. Clearly some license is taken for the purpose of story-telling, continuity, and such - but not bad. I have long ago read books on the Manhattan project - and anyone who has will catch the significance of some of the story lines sooner than most.

 

[dextercioby]

I've seen it. As a picture, independent of a book which helped Nolan write the story/screenplay, it is a great movie, with great performance by the whole cast (two villains from two Schwarzenegger movies are one meter apart sharing the same cause). I hope RDJ and especially Cillian Murphy get nominated for Oscars and have a good chance of winning.

 

[pinball1970]

Hi everyone! As I'm sure many of you here on PF know, the latest Christopher Nolan film, "Oppenheimer" -- about the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, focusing on his role on the Manhattan Project, and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin -- is now in theatres.

Has anyone here on PF seen the film? If so, what are your thoughts on the film? And has any of you read the original source book on which this film is based on?

Looking forward to seeing it. I have seen a couple of films regarding the Manhattan project, neither particularly amazing from memory.
Edit, "Infinity" and "Fat man little boy."
Fat man little boy featured the demon core incidents (actually one incident in the film) although they occured after the bombs were dropped.
Infinity was about Richard Feynman.

Probably featured in "The World at war" series 1973 but that was mainly about dropping the bomb and the aftermath.

 

[apostolosdt]

I've seen it. Good Nolan didn't attempt to include too much about Manhattan Project's science and concentrated on Oppenheimer the man. I made the mistake of watching the documentary "To End All War, Oppenheimer & The Atomic Bomb" (2023) before Nolan's film and the comparison was inevitable.

Today, there is an interesting article in the NYT about the discovery of a 40-year-old documentary on Oppenheimer.

 

[pinball1970]

I've seen it. Good Nolan didn't attempt to include too much about Manhattan Project's science and concentrated on Oppenheimer the man. I made the mistake of watching the documentary "To End All War, Oppenheimer & The Atomic Bomb" (2023) before Nolan's film and the comparison was inevitable.

Today, there is an interesting article in the NYT about the discovery of a 40-year-old documentary on Oppenheimer.

That's not I wanted. "Infinity" was crap for that reason.
I am not watching Oppenfinity.

 

[DennisN]

I'm definitely thinking of seeing it soon!
A movie-loving friend told me today that he liked it very much and rated it 5/5.

So I don't think it will be a bomb at the box-office.

 

[Dr Transport]

Saw it last weekend. I liked it.

 

[bob012345]

There is a mini-series called Manhattan about the project which focuses on other characters (fictional but I believe somewhat based on real people) but is very good. Oppenheimer is in it but not the main focus.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3231564/

 

[Sagittarius A-Star]

In one scene of the film, the American flag has 50 stars, although it had only 48 stars in 1945.

Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/24/entertainment/oppenheimer-flag-mistake-intl-scli/index.html

 

[bob012345]

In one scene of the film, the American flag has 50 stars, although it had only 48 stars in 1945.

Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/24/entertainment/oppenheimer-flag-mistake-intl-scli/index.html

That's what my family had when I was growing up, a 48 star flag well into the 1980's. Not like anyone's going to notice the difference from the street.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Hi everyone! As I'm sure many of you here on PF know, the latest Christopher Nolan film, "Oppenheimer" -- about the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, focusing on his role on the Manhattan Project, and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin -- is now in theatres.

Has anyone here on PF seen the film? If so, what are your thoughts on the film? And has any of you read the original source book on which this film is based on?

Spoiler alert!

 

[Astronuc]

Some historical background. I should point out that ¹⁴⁴Ba and ⁸⁹Kr is just one of many possible pair of fission products.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tizard_Mission

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Alloys

 

[pinball1970]

Spoiler alert!

View attachment 329794

I read that the first tests were disappointing.
This image was leaked from secret files, Oppenheimer is second left, baseball cap and boots.

 

[pinball1970]

I've seen it. Good Nolan didn't attempt to include too much about Manhattan Project's science and concentrated on Oppenheimer the man. I made the mistake of watching the documentary "To End All War, Oppenheimer & The Atomic Bomb" (2023) before Nolan's film and the comparison was inevitable.

Today, there is an interesting article in the NYT about the discovery of a 40-year-old documentary on Oppenheimer.

Read your post decided not to watch it then watched it anyway. Hated it. Edit: I was coerced by a work colleague to experience IMAX. Very impressed with the set up, it is not the cinema chains fault, that Hollywood decided to miss an opportunity to make a film about an important scientific and Engineering discovery. Probably the most important ever. At least we got to know about his girlfriend though and wife.
Cannot remember which was which.
Some political stuff too.

 

[.Scott]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have seen the first 5 episodes of the 7-episode 1980 BBC version of Oppenheimer - each episode was about 1 hour in length. That got me up to Trinity/Hiroshima/Nagasaki.
I have just seen the film.
Although Trinity/Hiroshima/Nagasaki is mentioned as the "climax" to this new 2023 movie, it actually happens at about the 2 hour mark. So both series put it at about the same point (5/7 vs. 2/3).
In both cases, significant the pre-T/H/N screen time is spent on the post-T/H/N drama where Opp. ultimately looses his clearance.
In this 2023 movie, the last hour was spent first dramatically exploring the case against Opp - with about 40 minutes spent on what I would call tedious "gossip" and the last 20 minutes dramatically rescuing that previous 40 minutes. But I am far from a typical viewer, so YMMV.

It is remarkable that two films about the same relatively narrow topic can be such different creations. The 1980 version showed considerable narrative skill - making a story entertaining. The 2023 version shows remarkable narrative art - imprecise use of story elements for artistic affect.
For example, both invoked the issue of possible atmospheric ignition. The 1980 version used it to show how Opp dealt with the issue. In the 2023 version, the "emotional thesis" shifts several times during the movie and it used ignition more often and far less precisely as a tool to assist in aligning audience emotion to the current thesis.

An example of how the story can be different is the spin applied to ETA of the Trinity event. The 1980's film starts with optimistic ETA dates and works forward. The 2023's version starts with an October estimate and pulls it back early enough to precede the Potsdam meeting.

From a Physics point of view, there is a bit more Physics in 1980 version that in the 2023 version. But there was a scene in the 2023 film where information about the Nazi work including heavy water is reviewed to conclude that the Nazis have taken a "wrong turn" on the path to a bomb. I expect the average viewer with little knowledge of fission would translate the scene into "blah blah blah, the Nazis aren't making bomb progress".

The 2023 movie earns its "R" rating from a few quick nude scenes. They are clearly put in there for that purpose and to dodge a nerdy reputation as best as possible. Before seeing the movie, I had presumed that the controversial inclusion of a reference to the Bhagavad Gita in a sex scene was an unintentional foobar. Having now seen the movie, it was clearly intended to cause the controversy. It would be very hard to argue that it serves any other narrative purpose.

I think both movies are good. If I was only allowed to see one, I would pick the 1980 version.

 

[.Scott]

... Hollywood decided to miss an opportunity to make a film about an important scientific and Engineering discovery. Probably the most important ever. At least we got to know about his girlfriend though and wife.
Cannot remember which was which.

The 1980s version does include a lot more science/technology - but perhaps not enough to satiate your appetite.
The 1980s version also provides a much more coherent and easier to follow rendition of Opps personal relationships. I especially like the narrative use of Opps wife. She is more consistently mature and supportive in the 1980s version.

 

[.Scott]

In one scene of the film, the American flag has 50 stars, although it had only 48 stars in 1945.

Source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/24/entertainment/oppenheimer-flag-mistake-intl-scli/index.html

I read your post and looked at the screen shot before seeing the movie - but still didn't notice.
There is one mistake that I noticed - but I am not sure anyone else would. It occurred hours (or perhaps a day) after the Trinity explosion. He walks into a crowd of cheering engineers in the open skies of Los Alamos. If you would rather focus on the story content and not the technicalities, don't open this spoiler.


The crowd noise does not match the setting or the crowd. The noise is what you would hear from an indoor setting with sound reflected from the walls and ceiling - not from an outdoor, open-skies crowd.


I am sure I notice different things than most.

 

[pinball1970]

The 1980s version does include a lot more science/technology - but perhaps not enough to satiate your appetite.
The 1980s version also provides a much more coherent and easier to follow rendition of Opps personal relationships. I especially like the narrative use of Opps wife. She is more consistently mature and supportive in the 1980s version.

Just remembered the ridiculous Feynman bongo scenes....

I will check out 1980 version on BBC iPlayer. Thanks

 

[DennisN]

I saw "Oppenheimer" today and thought it was very good.
I had a blast seeing it.

 

[Gordianus]

I saw the movie yesterday and I think it's a very good one. Nolan focused on the man and left scientific and thecnical details aside. Those details can be found in "The making of the atomic bomb" (by Richard Rhodes).
I found it interesting how security reasons dictate the core should be shown as a cylinder and not a sphere. It isn't a movie for nerds that demand extreme scientific accuracy; it addresses the human conflict.
Nolan got the best actors and they delivered.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Saw it last night (8/21) and really enjoyed seeing a masterfully created film, from top to bottom. Knowing some of the relevant history (who and what, mostly) of the Manhattan project and subsequent security clearance hearing is helpful but not required.

 

[russ_watters]

I saw it tonight on Imax. Very good movie. Yes, it's a little more about human drama than the bomb itself.

 

[russ_watters]

I found it interesting how security reasons dictate the core should be shown as a cylinder and not a sphere.

I think I know what scene you're referring to, but it's not the core, it's the "tamper plug", with the core inside. See 2:00:



https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/gadget-first-atomic-bomb/

What I didn't expect, but was likely accurate was the time delay of about a minute between seeing and hearing the explosion.

 

[lavinia]

Hi everyone! As I'm sure many of you here on PF know, the latest Christopher Nolan film, "Oppenheimer" -- about the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, focusing on his role on the Manhattan Project, and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin -- is now in theatres.

Has anyone here on PF seen the film? If so, what are your thoughts on the film? And has any of you read the original source book on which this film is based on?

For me, there was little science and I did not feel that I understood Oppenheimer's character by the end of the movie.

The contrast between the science and the war was underplayed and could have been the movie's dynamic, the frightening race to beat the Germans versus the amazing scientific adventure.

More on the personal effect on Oppenheimer of being the person who made it possible to destroy the world.

The stuff on the Red Scare policies was historically interesting but treated superficially.

I suspect that the reasons for using the bomb were whitewashed.

I would have liked to know more about the other scientists e.g. Edward Teller and less about Oppenheimer's girlfriend.

The filming and acting was good.

 

[apostolosdt]

I don’t know much about cinematography. Before the movie, I had watched a number of documentaries about Oppenheimer and I noticed how he stood out among his contemporaries. I can only think of him as being “ethereal”. I’m not sure whether the movie conveyed such an element of Oppenheimer.

 

[PhDeezNutz]

I haven't seen it but my co-worker has and said it was good. He also said the film featured a scene "with some poser playing the bongos badly" (Acting as Feynman).

 

[sbrothy]

Plan on seeing it ofcourse. One of the things that has always fascinated me is the explosive lens design.

In particular this high-speed recording of the implosion process looks really impressive:

Implosion shaped charge.

Is there anything in there about Edward Teller and his devotion to his "Super" (read: H-bomb)?"In early 1951, however, Ulam and Teller proposed a radically new and more promising approach for starting and sustaining a fusion reaction. They proposed using x-rays produced by the fission primary, rather than other attributes from the detonation of the fission primary, to compress the secondary. The process, which allowed a faster and longer-sustained compression of the fusion fuel, became known as staged radiation implosion. What was "a tortured thing that you could well argue did not make a great deal of sense," as Oppenheimer observed, became by mid-1951 "technically so sweet that you could not argue about that.""

---- https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Science/BombDesign/hydrogen-bomb.html