Oppenheimer

Finally went to see the movie Oppenheimer last night and I was not disappointed. It had many things working against it. It was a 3-hour, history based movie largely on physics directed by Christopher Nolan. Any one of those details is enough to kill the interest in most movies but not Oppenheimer. At least not for me.

I have long been fascinated by the subject and I must say Cillian Murphy did a superb job in the title role. You believed he was J. Robert Oppenheimer. I was also fascinated by the different roles and mixture of politics in the movie. You had Matt Damon, a prominent Democrat, in a prominent role and a surprise turn by Casey Affleck as Colonel Boris Pash in a movie whose Executive Producer was ultra conservative James Woods. Kenneth Branagh as Niels Bohr was also spot on.

Robert Downey Jr as Lewis Strauss had me completely fooled. That's how good a job he did. However his voice never fooled my girlfriend who insisted it was Iron Man. She was right. 

My two quibbles with the movie were fact based. I was really glad they included the episode with the the poison apple. Oppenheimer really did pull that stunt while at Oxford but it wasn't regret that stayed his hand. He was caught and punished for it but not expulsed from the school. Second Richard Feynman was included in the movie but only temporarily and identified whenever someone was playing the bongos. Don't think he learned the bongos until later in life but he was instrumental in the Manhattan Project.

Really enjoyed the movie. Think you may too (if you haven't already).