History Film / Oppenheimer

* HardTruthAesop: After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer visits President Truman at the White House and ends up confessing he feels [[TheseHandsHaveKilled he has blood on his hands for making the bomb]]. Truman's response was a complete LackOfEmpathy, "They don't care who MADE the bomb, they only care about who DROPPED it. And that was ME." However cruel, the narration made it clear Oppenheimer learned his own hand-wringing was a waste of time and pivoted his newfound celebrity status to try and influence policy.

* HardTruthAesop: After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer visits President Truman at the White House and ends up confessing he feels [[TheseHandsHaveKilled he has blood on his hands for making the bomb]]. Trumans' response was a complete LackOfEmpathy, "They don't care who MADE the bomb, they only care about who DROPPED it. And that was ME." However cruel, the narration made it clear Oppenheimer learned his own hand-wringing was a waste of time and pivoted his newfound celebrity status to try and influence policy.

* AppleForTeacher: Oppenheimer sees one of his classmates put an apple the desk of his professor, Patrick Blackett. Since he felt angry with Blackett, Oppenheimer decides to inject the apple [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink with cyanide]]. However, he changes his mind and decides to dispose of the apple, narrowly avoiding poisoning Niels Bohr (whose lecture the previous day Oppenheimer couldn't go to) when ''he'' grabs the apple.

* {{Jerkass}}: While President Truman [[JerkassHasAPoint may have a point]] about how [[spoiler:Oppenheimer's guilt is self-serving when he wasn't the one who ordered the bombing and was actually one of the voices pushing to drop it on a civilian target in the first place]], his responding to Oppenheimer's worry that he has "blood on his hands" by ''waving a handkerchief in his face'' goes beyond the pale. He later calls Oppenheimer a "crybaby" for having the sheer, unrestrained gall... to be upset that he was partially responsible for over 100,000 lives being lost.[[note]] This is actually ''toned down'' from the historical account, where Truman allegedly asked, "Would you like to wipe them?" when he offered his handkerchief, and then called Oppenheimer a 'fucking cretin' after the meeting.[[/note]]

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Early on, Oppenheimer tries to outright murder Patrick Blackett upon feeling offended by him, by injecting cyanide in his apple. Just as Niels Bohr is about to take a bite in it, Oppenheimer snatches the apple JustInTime and throws it in a garbage can, pretending it's rotten.

* TookALevelInCynic: Not that Oppenheimer was ever exactly the most upbeat and cheerful person, but he was once naive enough to believe the invention of the atom bomb would make war "unthinkable" and stop wars. He very quickly learns to his horror that this is not the case and that the nuclear arms race has just begun, making the invention of a bomb dropped on an enemy that (as he sees it) had already tried to surrender and were essentially defeated[[note]]In reality, Japan's Supreme Council for the Direction of the War had ignored the Potsdam Declaration and was only willing to contemplate a ''conditional'' surrender (i.e., no military occupation of Japan, Japan keeping parts of its overseas empire, and war criminals facing no prosecution except by their own government), which was unacceptable to the United States. Historians debate to this day how large a role the atomic bombs played in the Japanese surrender. In any case, Oppenheimer didn't know about all of this at the time.[[/note]] [[AllForNothing absolutely useless]]. No wonder he seems so drained and defeated in several of the black-and-white scenes discussing the hydrogen bomb and that he doesn't try to defend himself to his full extent in his hearing.

** [[spoiler:In a speech he gives to a basketball court following the Hiroshima bombing, he tries to congratulate the pilot of the ''Enola Gay''. But as he gives said speech, the brightness of the bomb, and the sight of a woman in the audience's flesh being melted off haunt him. Later, when he visits Truman following Nagasaki, he straight up tells him that "(he feels that he has) blood on (his) hands."]]

--->'''Strauss:''' Oppenheimer knows how to manipulate his own. At Los Alamos, he preyed on the naïveté of scientists who thought they get a say in how we use their work. They’ll never think he was that naive himself.Oppenheimer wanted to ''own'' the atomic bomb. He wanted to be the man who moved the earth. He talks about putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle - well, I’m here to tell you that I ''know'' J Robert Oppenheimer, and if he could do it all over, he’d do it all the same. You know that he's never ''once'' said he regrets Hiroshima?! He’d do it all over! '''Why?''' Because it made him the most important man who ever lived...it was all part of his plan. He wanted the glorious, insincere guilt of the self-important to wear like a fucking crown, and say, “No, we cannot go down this road,” even as he ''knew'' we’d have to... J. Robert Oppenheimer, the martyr. I gave him ''exactly'' what he wanted. To be remembered for Trinity. Not Hiroshima, not Nagasaki! He should be ''thanking'' me.

* NoSell: The Senate Aide gives Strauss one after his climactic MotiveRant.

** Holding a grudge against Patrick Blackett, Oppenheimer injects an apple left by one of his students with potassium cyanide and puts it back on the table. In the next morning, he rushes back to the laboratory trying to undo his action, seemingly regretting it. Niels Bohr almost eats the apple, but thankfully he manages to throw it away.

** Holding a grudge against Patrick Blackett, Oppenheimer injects an apple left by one of his students with potassium cyanide and puts it back on the table. In the next morning, he rushes back to the laboratory trying to undo his action, seemingly regretting it. Niels Bohr almost ate the apple, but thankfully he manages to throw it away.

** Holding a grudge against Patrick Blackett, Oppenheimer injects an apple left by one of his students with potassium cyanide and puts it back on the table. The next day, he rushes back to the laboratory trying to undo his action, seemingly regretting it. Niels Bohr almost ate the apple, but thankfully he manages to throw it away.

** Holding a grudge against Patrick Blackett, Oppenheimer douses an apple left by one of his students with potassium cyanide and puts it back on the table. The next day, he rushes back to the lecture room trying to undo his action, seemingly regretting it. Niels Bohr almost ate the apple, but thankfully he manages to throw it away.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Colonel (later General) Leslie Groves is introduced storming into Oppenheimer's lab like he already owns the place, throwing his jacket to his subordinate Nichols to get it dry-cleaned. It illustrates his brusque, no-nonsense personal manner.

** The same goes for Oppenheimer himself, who, despite his undeniable intelligence and exceptional ability to see the world in ways most other people can't, is also arrogant, socially awkward, impulsive, and a serial womanizer. In addition, his desire to understand all paths of life all at once leaves him unable to fully commit to any single ideal, as seen with him quickly disavowing his Communist ties just to work on the Manhattan Project. And after the war, when placed in a more tumultuous period of US politics, that inability to commit to any political ideal makes many of his former comrades turn against him, considering him to be an intellectual coward. It's left ambigous whether his efforts to restrict the use of the atomic bomb come from sincere guilt; a desire to make a martyr out of himself out of self-pity; or worse, [[AttentionWhore a desire for keeping the world's eyes on him]] as the father of the atom bomb without being overshadowed by the hydrogen bomb. Even Oppenheimer himself doesn't seem to fully understand his reasons.

** Oppenheimer's extremely complicated relationship with Lawrence is not explored in the film in depth. The two of them were best friends in real life for well over a decade, but that relationship soured due to a combination of deep political differences over nuclear weapons and the [[UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy McCarthy era]] and a history of petty slights and personal conflict. During their friendship, they were nearly inseparable with Lawrence in particular always lauding Oppenheimer's character in public even as he criticized Oppenheimer's political activity to Oppenheimer alone in private, but as their relationship deteriorated, the two men knew each other well enough to know exactly how to twist the knife to hurt the other one. Though the two of them deeply cared about the other -- with Lawrence deeply hurt by the end of their friendship and reluctant to testify against Oppenheimer and Oppenheimer grieving Lawrence's death ---- the two never quite recovered from their slow, painful fallout that culminated in Lawrence testifying against Oppenheimer during his security hearing. In the movie, Lawrence is unable to bring himself to testify against Oppenheimer at the last minute and they appear friendly with one another when Oppenheimer is awarded the Fermi Award. Additionally, in the film, Lawrence's grievance with Oppenheimer seems to be based in Oppenheimer's affair with their late colleague's wife. While Lawrence was indeed disgusted with Oppenheimer's womanizing ways in general, his actual reason for testifying against his former closest friend was based in Lawrence's support of increased nuclear armament and opposition to Oppenheimer's leftist political views (as well as possibly a certain sense of jealousy and resentment of Oppenheimer's influence and fame, depending on whose account you believe).[[note]] The two men did at least have a brief conversation with some closure shortly before Lawrence's death, according to Oppenheimer, but second-hand accounts of people who knew both men stated they never entirely got over the end of their friendship. In the movie, they seem to have reconciled after Lawrence refuses to testify against Oppenheimer. [[/note]].

** Similarly, when setting Oppenheimer up Strauss notes that the beauty of the clearance hearing is that there's no burden of proof required, meaning they can insinuate all kinds of damaging things without requiring any evidence to support them. Later, when this has been evoked at Strauss's hearings, he blusters that there's no way that anyone can prove his involvement in the blatant sabotage of Oppenheimer's career, only to be informed that there's no ''need'' to... because there's no burden of proof required in these hearings.

* MovingTheGoalposts: When General Groves is brought in as a character witness to Oppenheimer, he is asked if Oppenheimer would have been cleared for the Manhattan Project under the new security clearance guidelines. Groves has great personal respect for Oppenheimer but truthfully admits he would not pass the current standards. But Groves is quick to add that NONE of the scientists would have passed (both referencing the fairly liberal nature of most academics and implying that the postwar RedScare was ''designed'' to harm them).

** [[spoiler:In a non-Oppenheimer example, Lawrence turns on his former colleague and agrees to testify against him but has a crisis of conscience after seeing Isidor and a broken Oppenheimer outside of the hearing room. He ultimately begs off, claiming colitis. [[note]] In real life, Lawrence canceled his testimony because he really had been stricken with a bad bout of colitis, a disease that ultimately killed him. [[/note]]]]

* NotSoDifferentRemark: [[spoiler: The ending reveals that the conversation between Oppenheimer and Einstein which forms the crux of many of the events in the movie was actually, in part, about this. Einstein recalls to Oppenheimer an award ceremony he hosted for Einstein years ago, remarking that -- since many of those present believed Einstein to be unable to come to terms with the concepts of quantum physics that they had expanded his theory of relativity to explore -- it was actually more self-congratulatory in nature than they may have wished to acknowledge. He then notes that, given the similarly world-breaking scale of Oppenheimer's achievement, it's now his turn to be gradually left in the past as others build on and surpass his work.]]

** As the movie progresses it becomes apparent that InUniverse ''everyone'' involved in the 1954 security hearing was perfectly aware of the fact that [[spoiler:Strauss was the one behind the whole thing]]. Only the Senate Aides shepherding Strauss' confirmation and the audience are in the dark about it.

** Oppenheimer briefly imagines Jean's suicide from various moments. [[spoiler: One of which shows a gloved set of hands thrust her head into the water. Was it really suicide? Or murder? Did the FBI silence her due to his involvement with the Manhattan project, or did Oppenheimer see ''himself'' as the murderer for turning his back on Jean when she needed him?]]
** How much of [[spoiler:Strauss' persecution of Oppenheimer was typical academia getting butthurt and petty (in this case, blaming him for a snub by Einstein and feeling insulted by Oppenheimer's joke about isotopes at a hearing) and how much of it was genuine hatred of the man's cowardice, hypocrisy, and the fact he was ultimately responsible for unleashing death and destruction on an untold scale while plunging the world into a Cold War? While Strauss' council and the hearing take the former position, the film points out that Oppenheimer was heavily criticised for his deeds, and in real life, Strauss was one of the few US politicians against the bombing of Japan.]]
* AnachronicOrder: As typical for a Creator/ChristopherNolan film, though slightly more traditional via the use of a FramingDevice involving multiple hearings and closed-doors interrogations set in the '50s when Oppenheimers' security clearance was being reviewed. The film is largely linear outside of that, but many facts are presented in passing before shown in detail. The DeliberatelyMonochrome scenes largely center around Strauss and his team discussing their interactions with Oppenheimer and presented objectively (meaning the audience is to interpret what is seen and heard at face value) and largely take place after 1945, while the color scenes represent the films' subjective viewpoint (meaning the audience is to infer the layers of thoughts and emotions Oppenheimer is feeling) and is mostly chronological, though sometimes [[OnceMoreWithClarity revisits scenes already viewed in black and white]].

--->'''Senate Aide''': [[spoiler:...you know, sir, since nobody really knows what they [Oppenheimer and Einstein] said to each other that day, is it possible they didn't talk about you at all? Is it possible that they spoke about something, uh, more important?]]

** An overarching fear by Oppenheimer, other scientists and the military throughout the movie leading up to Trinity is that the bomb could ignite the atmosphere and end all life on Earth in nuclear fire. In actuality, by the time the Manhattan Project had been formed Oppenheimer and his colleagues had safely calculated and concluded such a possibility was impossible and weren't fearful of that outcome, at least for ''their'' bomb (the Tsar Bomba created later by the Russians was a different story). In the film they ''do'' say that they've calculated that there's a near zero chance of such a thing happening, but still have that tiny margin of error to add dramatic tension that wasn't there in real life.

** When Oppenheimer says that he has blood on his hands, Truman sarcastically offers him a hankie and tells him no one gives a shit who built the bomb.

The film is about the life of [[UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer]] (portrayed by Creator/CillianMurphy), the [[UsefulNotes/QuantumPhysics theoretical physicist]] credited with being the "father of the atomic bomb" for his leading role in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project Manhattan Project]], the secret American undertaking that raced against UsefulNotes/NaziGermany's scientists to conceive, build and test the first UsefulNotes/{{nuclear weapons}} during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* Creator/EmilyBlunt as Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer, née Puening.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory:
** Downplayed. An overarching fear by Oppenheimer, other scientists and the military throughout the movie leading up to Trinity is that the bomb could ignite the atmosphere and end all life on Earth in nuclear fire. In actuality, by the time the Manhattan Project had been formed Oppenheimer and his colleagues had safely calculated and concluded such a possibility was impossible and weren't fearful of that outcome, at least for ''their'' bomb (the Tsar Bomba created later by the Russians was a different story). In the film they ''do'' say that they've calculated that there's a near zero chance of such a thing happening, but still have that tiny margin of error to add dramatic tension that wasn't there in real life.

* MovingTheGoalposts: When General Groves is brought in as a character witness to Oppenheimer, he is asked if Oppenheimer would have been cleared for the Manhattan Project under the new security clearance guidelines. Groves has great personal respect for Oppenheimer but truthfully admits he would not pass the current standards. But Groves is quick to add that NONE of the scientists would have passed (inferring both the fairly liberal nature of most academics and that concurrent RedScare at the time was ''designed'' to harm them).
* MustHaveNicotine: Oppenheimer is pretty much always depicted smoking a cigarette or his pipe. This is pretty accurate to real life, as the real Oppenheimer was known to be a heavy chain smoker for most of his life, and had on occasion been observed to have smoked up to 100 cigarettes a day. His habit is also widely believed to be the main cause of the throat cancer that would eventually claim his life at the age of 62, only compounded inhaling irradiated dust during the Trinity detonation.

* MovingTheGoalposts: When General Groves is brought in as a character witness to Oppenheimer, he is asked if Oppenheimer would have been cleared for the Manhattan Project under the new security clearance guidelines. Groves has great personal respect for Oppenheimer but truthfully admits he would not pass the current standards. But Groves is quick to add that NONE of the scientists would have passed (inferring both the fairly liberal nature of most academics and the concurrent RedScare at the time was ''designed'' to harm them).

* MonochromeCasting: Due to a devotion to historical accuracy and focusing on lead scientists, politicians, and military officers in the USA from the 1920s to the early 1950s, almost every character of any importance to the plot is Caucasian. Creator/RamiMalek (of Egyptian descent) playing David Hill and Benji Safdie and Creator/DavidDastmalchian (both part-Iranian) playing Edward Teller and William L. Borden, respectively, are the three notable exceptions, though their characters (being based on real life people) are clearly supposed to be white. The only other non-white actor with even a speaking role is Ronald August playing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Ernest_Wilkins_Jr. Ernest Wilkins Jr.]], who appears only briefly during Oppenheimer's visit to Chicago. His appearance and a few non-white extras at Los Alamos represent the [[https://www.businessinsider.com/manhattan-project-oppenheimer-black-scientists-history-atomic-bomb-science-2023-7 many non-white scientists]] who worked on the Manhattan Project.

* MonochromeCasting: Due to a devotion to historical accuracy and focusing on lead scientists, politicians, and military officers in the USA from the 1920s to the early 1950s, almost every character of any importance to the plot is Caucasian. Creator/RamiMalek (of Egyptian descent) playing David Hill and Benji Safdie and Creator/DavidDastmalchian (both part-Iranian) playing Edward Teller and William L. Borden, respectively, are the three notable exceptions, though their characters (being based on real life people) are clearly supposed to be white. The only other non-white actor with even a speaking role is Ronald August playing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Ernest_Wilkins_Jr. J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.]], who appears only briefly during Oppenheimer's visit to Chicago. His appearance and a few non-white extras at Los Alamos represent the [[https://www.businessinsider.com/manhattan-project-oppenheimer-black-scientists-history-atomic-bomb-science-2023-7 many non-white scientists]] who worked on the Manhattan Project.

* MonochromeCasting: Due to a devotion to historical accuracy and focusing on lead scientists, politicians, and military officers in the USA from the 1920s to the early 1950s, almost every character of any importance to the plot is Caucasian. Creator/RamiMalek (of Egyptian descent) playing David Hill and Benji Safdie and Creator/DavidDastmalchian (both part-Iranian) playing Edward Teller and William L. Borden, respectively, are the three notable exceptions, though their characters (being based on real life people) are clearly supposed to be white. The only other non-white actor with even a speaking role is Ronald August playing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Ernest_Wilkins_Jr J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.]], who appears only briefly during Oppenheimer's visit to Chicago. His appearance and a few non-white extras at Los Alamos represent the [[https://www.businessinsider.com/manhattan-project-oppenheimer-black-scientists-history-atomic-bomb-science-2023-7 many non-white scientists]] who worked on the Manhattan Project.

** This happens with a large part of the scientists at Los Alamos. Judging by their reactions after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, very few of them actually considered the human implications of using it. Furthermore, that more bombs would be made and that it would become part of the military's arsenal. Many scientists, including eventually Oppenheimer himself, were utterly horrified at having created something that could potentially destroy. When they voiced these concerns, they were dismissed with essentially "Well, what did you think was going to happen next?"

* DramaticIrony: The first half of the film is about Oppenheimer and the US government on a race against time to develop an atomic bomb first before the Nazis do, citing how Heisenberg has an 18 year head start on nuclear development. While they do have reasons to fear based on the information they had, the audience know that the [[ForegoneConclusion Nazis were never able to build an atomic bomb and were defeated before the Trinity test could even be conducted]]. In fact, in real life, Heisenberg wasn't even interested in building an atomic bomb and Hitler's rabid antisemitism practically stunted any nuclear research in Germany. This, along with the hindsight news that Japan was potentially on verge of surrendering even before Hiroshima, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone shaken Oppenheimer to the core]] as it meant [[NiceJobBreakingItHero he gave the world a world-destroying weapon that didn't need to be made in the first place]].

** Oppenheimer's immediate guilt and self-loathing complete with nightmarish visions at Los Alamos upon the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is played up for effective dramatic effect in the film. In reality, his Manhattan Project colleagues remember him walking with a strut and taking to the stage to celebrate clasping his hands together "like a prize-winning boxer" (though the speech he utters in the film is accurate). Most historians agree it was likely seeing the photos of the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that truly triggered Oppenheimer's famous guilt over his actions.