<em>Oppenheimer</em> Is More Than a Creation Myth About the Atomic Bomb
Christopher Nolan’s ambitious film explores the heated conversations and private anxieties that led to the unleashing of a terrible power.
Almost all of is composed of conversation. There’s academic back-and-forth among theoretical physicists as they scribble nuclear equations on chalkboards; heated conversations between American politicians and military leaders about World War II and the fate of the country should the Nazis win; terse, loaded exchanges at panels and congressional hearings, with investigations sifting through rumors and conjecture in an effort to determine these scientists’ loyalty to the United States. The director Christopher Nolan rarely slows down to let his protagonist, J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy), actually think. When he does, the audience sees particles swirling in
