Heartwarming / Oppenheimer

Even the man who harnessed Death can still find time for Love.

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• After Jean expresses annoyance that Oppenheimer keeps showing up to her house, he points out to her that she's the one who keeps calling him, and gently and sincerely tells her that he'll always answer. He keeps his word when he spends the night with her in a hotel room, despite having long been married to Kitty at this point, simply because she called him and said that she needed him. For all of Oppenheimer's faults, he did still truly love her.
• Oppenheimer learning that Groves had Colonel Pash relocated to London to protect all of the scientists at Los Alamos (and Oppenheimer himself), and never telling anyone. The small smile he gives during Groves' testimony is all that needs to be conveyed to show his sheer appreciation at such an act The music itself reflects the emotion of the scene perfectly: Pash's theme is a terrifying piece full of harsh, discordant chords, but at the end of the song the strings fade out to be replaced by a gentle, soothing melody, demonstrating Groves' protectiveness and affection towards Oppenheimer.
  • Groves while he says according to guidelines now that he wouldn't clear Oppenheimer, he also makes it a point to say he wouldn't clear any of them now—meaning it's not in any way a mark specifically against him. Groves also gives him an apologetic look as he's leaving too.
• Despite Oppenheimer being incredibly rude to Dr. David Hill nearly every time they ever interact on screen, Hill does the right thing by publicly defending his reputation against Strauss. ^note  Per the transcripts of his testimony, Hill was not only disgusted by the treatment of Oppenheimer but also had serious misgivings about Strauss' leadership abilities based on his time as head of the AEC, characterizing him as a micromanager who frequently ignored the advice of the very scientists he brought in to furnish him with information, and prioritized secrecy and controlling the flow of information over transparency and a well-informed scientific community and the general public. Whilst Hill recognized that Strauss may well have believed this was for the greater good, he felt it nevertheless hampered the work of his fellow scientists and did not reflect the qualities best suited to a government official. Hill also took issue with Strauss' attempts to further his credibility for the nomination by citing the approval of scientists who were no longer alive to speak for themselves, such as Hill's close friend and colleague Enrico Fermi, as well as what he saw as Strauss' failure/unwillingness to vigorously repudiate the claims of a book published in 1950 that Hill saw as a deliberate hatchet job intended to undermine and discredit Oppenheimer and throw the Los Alamos team under the bus for the Russians obtaining the A-bomb and not pushing harder on the H-bomb; as the only person quoted by the book who did not publicly disavow its conclusions, Strauss supposedly criticized it only on the basis that its publication was not at the time politically expedient, and that it should have been published long after those named in it were dead (and unable to contradict it).
• Edward Teller testifies that, whilst he believes Oppenheimer is a loyal citizen, their many disagreements on matters of science and policy are such that he would rather see America's interests in hands of someone he understands and trusts more; seemingly aware that he is being used as a pawn against him, Teller apologizes to Oppenheimer before walking out the door and Oppenheimer shakes his hand, indicating he holds no ill-will toward him for it.
• When Kitty is next to be questioned at the hearing, Oppenheimer's counsel try to convince him to take her off the list given how vicious the opposing party is being. Oppenheimer refuses and states that he has full confidence in Kitty to face them down, which she does with aplomb.
  • The elder member of the Gray Board, Ward Evans - the one who smiles warmly at Kitty as she jousts verbally with Robb - did indeed write the minority report, the single member of the three-person panel who dissented against revoking Oppenheimer's Q clearance. As much as the proceeding was a kangaroo court, at least one member of the board was on his side. ^note Ward Evans' minority report was concise and sharply worded. He criticized the AEC for investigating Oppenheimer for charges on which he had previously been cleared in 1947. Oppenheimer "did not hinder the development of the H-bomb, and there is absolutely nothing in the testimony to show that he did." Evans acknowledged that Oppenheimer had left-wing and even Communist friends, but "the evidence indicates that he has fewer of them than in 1947, when he was last cleared." Moreover, "he is not as naïve as he was then. He has more judgment... it is better now than it was in 1947, and to damn him now and ruin his career and his service, I cannot do it." He concluded that failure to clear Oppenheimer would be "a black mark on the escutcheon of our country."
• Oppenheimer and Rabi's friendship. It's clear that Rabi cares dearly for Oppenheimer, and at times seems downright protective of him.
• Lawrence plans on testifying at the hearing against Oppenheimer, until he sees an utterly broken Oppenheimer in the hallway and cannot bring himself to do it. Despite clashing with his former friend over nuclear armament, he is clearly affected by seeing Oppenheimer in such a pathetic state.
• One of Robert and Kitty's last scenes together is of them walking back to their home, hand-in-hand and leaning against each other's shoulders, showing that they're willing to reconcile and work on their marriage (and, indeed, they did stay married until his death in 1967).

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