Christopher Nolan delivers his most mature reading of guilt with Oppenheimer

In a career that has no parallel today, Christopher Nolan has delivered his most mature and philosophical work in Oppenheimer. Surprisingly, it is also amongst his most straightforward plots, reflecting a conviction in his creation that goes beyond cinematic sleight of hand. His ability to re-interpret universal themes in an introspective and audio-visually arresting way is evident. Be it his conflicted and sacrificing Batman in the Dark Knight trilogy, or the guilt-ridden Cobb (almost resembling Nolan in some scenes) in Inception (2010), each story brings a complicated reading of human behaviour.

Oppenheimer is tied to Nolan’s understanding of world politics, which might not be very convincing for most of us. Robert Pattinson gifted him the book, “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin (2005)”. Nolan found the journey of J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the nuclear bomb, a cinematic story. Speaking to the media at CinemaCon, he explained, “Like it or not, J. Robert Oppenheimer is the most important person who ever lived….He made the world we live in, for better or for worse…”

Oppenheimer’s contribution to ending World War 2, by leading the Manhattan Project that built both atomic bombs used against Japan, hasn’t made it to the history curriculum in India (or South Asia). But his use of science to build a weapon of mass destruction kick-started a global arms race, pitting the USA and USSR in two blocs that ultimately brought wars and conflict born out of the Cold War, is undeniable. Getting a bomb or aligning with a country that has one, became essential for the survival of nations, including India.

Capturing his life from his university days, through a phase of ideological explorations and university research, the film shows Oppenheimer breaking through bureaucracy, red tape, and the obsessive security apparatus of the USA and leading the Manhattan Project in a top-secret manufactured town, Los Alamos. Nolan tells his story from a personal point of view- with deadly exploding and imploding scenes taking up the whole screen to show his imagination. Intentionally done without words, these images strike fear in the viewer. Fascinatingly, one watches a collective of supremely intelligent scientists, confused over the use of such a deadly weapon, work day and night to unleash all-consuming death and destruction.

Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer is brilliant- chilly, gaunt, effectively opaque with his piercing blue eyes and filled with remorse later. Outstanding performances by Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh, Bernie Safdie, and Tom Conti bring out their best in a cast studded with starry cameos (Rami Malek and Gary Oldman among others).

In this film, Nolan uses parallel narratives across different timelines only to highlight a break in the credibility of his protagonist. When Lewis Strauss (Downey Jr) is facing a senate hearing to decide his feasibility as a cabinet member, proceedings undulate with surprising twists, disrupting the proceedings of the film. Here the timelines are also in different colour schemes- with black and white highlighting the unpleasant manipulation of Washington power brokers that finally cast doubt on the father of the nuclear bomb. As always, wide-screen explosions in silence that lead to booming, reverberating sounds make sure that you both watch and hear the film simultaneously, striking fear of what a nuclear bomb means.

Oppenheimer, though, stands out for Nolan’s exploration of guilt and remorse. It extends the theme of guilt that marks each choice of the protagonist Cobb in Inception. Cobb can never reconcile with the fact that his wife, Mal, died for reasons beyond his control. He carries the blame for a wrong incepts that took her life throughout. He is imprisoned by his mind, with guilt dominating his dreams in an endless cycle without closure. Oppenheimer courts trouble and ultimately loses his security clearance to Washington politics when he keeps advocating for a reduction of the arms race and opposes the making of a Hydrogen bomb. Insomnia (2002) has detective Will Dormer dealing with an inability to sleep over the death of his partner, using memory to alter what happened on the night of this incident. In Memento (2000), Leonard has short-term memory loss and is looking for the killer of his wife. In its nonlinear story, we finally find out that Leonard’s memory loss is linked to his repressed memories of his wife’s murder so that he doesn’t have to deal with his role in this incident. Nolan’s Batman too is constantly grappling with the guilt of not being able to save his parents, and a sense of loss when he re-imagines his relationship with childhood sweetheart, Rachel.

With Oppenheimer, Nolan circles back on the theme of guilt with 360-degree certainty that some of this feeling can never be accentuated. Without giving out spoilers, the closing scene of this film explains the scientist’s permanently untenable position after making the bomb. While celebrations and rewards come, the judgement follows harshly, within this very lifetime. While quoting the Bhagavad Gita was an uneven pivot for this film, Nolan has reflected on the theme of the destruction of war that he began with Dunkirk (2017) here too. This anti-war drama, driven by non-linear storytelling, closes with young surviving soldiers landing on a seaport where an old man hands them blankets. He keeps looking down, he is blind (not obvious at first glance) and keeps saying ‘Well done boys’. Bogged down by the shame of defeat and humiliation of war, a soldier says, All we did is survive. And the old man says That’s enough. Here he highlights the human connection of common people stuck in extraordinary circumstances far beyond their control- just living through the hell of war is enough. So that we live to fight another day.

But for Oppenheimer, there is no such redemption. Even when he is being unfairly and absurdly called out for his Communist agenda by manipulative G-men, what they say resonates- why oppose the Hydrogen bomb when you built the atomic bomb? Don’t both reign in death and destruction?

Oppenheimer, the imperfect hero, is worth experiencing because his work has shaped so much of world politics. It is also worth witnessing Nolan’s grown-up, clear thought process to understand that films can indeed transcend entertainment and bring much greater value to us.

Archita Kashyap is an experienced journalist and writer on film, music, and pop culture. She has handled entertainment content for broadcast news and digital platforms over 15 years.