Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s biopic OPPENHEIMER looks at the life of quantum physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), who was regarded as the “father of the atomic bomb,” and spans 45 years: starting with his time studying in Europe, taking in the Manhattan project to develop the first atomic bomb and leading to the investigative committee in the McCarthy era, which found Oppenheimer guilty of “fraternizing with known Communists” and declared him a security risk. “The bombardment of questions at the interrogation and the effect it has on an intellectual already worn down by self-doubt is shaped by Nolan into an actual war film. Cillian Murphy, who was still playing a trembling soldier in Dunkirk, makes the attempted motionlessness of his face into a battlefield. Like the entire film, Nolan films it on 70mm celluloid and gives it a tragic, fascinating force. One is reminded of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent film Die Passion der Johanna von Orleans, the great-grandfather of all courtroom dramas that plays out entirely in the face of non-actor Maria Falconetti.” (Daniel Kothenschulte)