So I went to watch Oppenheimer recently with my friends. Naturally being a history geek and knowing a lot about WW2 (yes that's where most of us start from), Oppenheimer was something I long anticipated for ever since it was announced. Although my friends originally planned to watch Barbie. I, myself, had strong inhibitions because predicting from recent trend of popcorn flicks that try to mash up a few recent trends, and talk down to their audiences about "the current thing", Barbie seemed to meet that checklist (I turned out to be right).
That was where Oppenheimer did it differently. There where many instances like a reference of a proposed lab site being a Native American burial site, which under current Hollywood standards would be used as a leeway into a lecture about intersectionality. But, Nolan choose to do it differently by actually staying true to the film's primary subject: Oppenheimer.
Apart from staying away from Hollywood's virtue-signaling business, movies today are heavily commercialized that they need to be dumbed down and should be relatable for an audience of people of different countries and nationalities. It's just an endless tirade of studios putting crap out to stack up the cash from as many people as possible. Back in the 80s, 90s and early to late 00s, you had movies that catered to primarily to niche audiences that were very popular. However I think that niche films as a whole in today's age are a thing of the past.
The vast majority of the public criticism towards this film stems from the fact that this movie was too long and/or the story was driven primarily by dialogue. A lot of people who had some level of trust in my taste for cinema, asked me if it is worth it. To all those people I told something along the lines of "it comes down to you". If you have a basic grounded understanding about WW2, The Cold War, and the names of a few famous physicists of the time, I would say you're good to go. But even then if you're not comfortable with the format of dialogue driven cinema, you are in for quite a painful 3 hours. Because Oppenheimer is not your average big budget thriller, it was made for a specific niche of people with huge attention spans.
Now I would admit, despite having a grounded knowledge about WW2, The Cold War, McCarthyism, and being familiar with a lot of things the film talks about, I still found it difficult to keep up with all of the secondary characters being introduced. However, the multiplicity of secondary characters especially as those involved with the Manhattan Project, gives me (a layman to the world of physics) an idea of the scale and manpower required for that particular scientific undertaking.
I was personally quite immersed in the entire experience, and was able to grasp the moral conflicts faced by the characters. The cast being a Nolan film did give quite an amazing performance. The one performance from the main cast that captivated me other than that of Cillian Murphy, definitely has to be Lewis Strauss by Robert Downey, Jr. Another commendable attribute about the film is its masterful use of sound.
All in all, it was an uplifting experience and was definitely far better than all of my recent experiences at a theatre. It is nice to see a major studio put out a film that stays true to it's subjects, plot, and time period, amidst the present tumultuous, degraded, state of Hollywood.
I like these movies but it's like you say, if we are not familiar with the subject it becomes complex to understand. Particularly, before watching films like this one I inquire about the historical context, that gives me light to understand better.
The film has been recommended to me, I also hope to see it. Thanks for your great summary.
I haven't seen it yet, I hope to see it soon. They say it's very good, although as you say, people prefer commercial-type movies like Barbie (which isn't a bad movie either) but leave niche movies aside. Good observation.
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