Oppenheimer is the twelfth feature film in the work of English director Christopher Nolan. A lot has changed since 1998 which saw his debut with Following, a work that has gained a cult status over the years. But Memento (2000) was the film that would put him on the radar of many moviegoers and would open the way for him to the Hollywood industry where Nolan has reaped all his successes ever since.

Once again Nolan returns to recreate a historical event around the Second World War. In 2017 he took us to the beaches of Dunkirk to relive Operation Dynamo with Tom Hardy piloting his Spitfire like a true hero to save the allies. Now the look is not that of the battlefield but that of the offices, corridors, laboratories, and meeting rooms where another group waged a parallel war. Specifically, Oppenheimer positions us on the birth of the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb by the government of the United States of America.

The Destroyer of Worlds

The screenplay, by Christopher Nolan himself, is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy by J. Robert Oppenheimer, written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The story takes us through events ranging from the central role played by the eminent physicist in the historical event of the creation of a weapon that changed the course of humanity, to the most intimate moments of his life, his fears, shortcomings, and dreams. Playing with timelines, history constantly jumps into the past, gives us glimpses of the future, and makes us live in the present. Making use of this resource for the narration, Nolan seeks to assert those three hours of footage, which, to be honest, could have been compacted to save a few minutes.

Like a meticulous craftsman, Nolan takes refuge in what he knows how to do best, he uses cinema and its language to create a work that reaches levels of perfection in the technical aspect. He puts all his effort into achieving the maximum cinematographic experience and for this, he once again uses the lens of the experienced Hoyte Van Hoytema who has already accompanied him on multiple occasions. The camera is undoubtedly one more protagonist and allows us to enter fully into that universe that Nolan created to show us that divine and human Oppenheimer. Perhaps since Interstellar (2014) the sound universe had not been so important for a work by Nolan and now Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther, Tenet) manages to perfectly adjust each chord with what we see on the screen, his composition transmits the emotions and it makes us connect with the characters on a deeper level.

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Cillian Murphy demuestra una vez más su rango impresionante y nos regala una actuación fabulosa encarnando a ese Robert Oppenheimer. En sus silencios Murphy logra con sus gestos y leguaje corporal momentos más brillantes que incluso superan sus memorables diálogos. Todo el elenco funciona de muy bien y hasta Robert Downey Jr. Logra desprenderse de la sombra de Tony Stark para meterse en la piel de Lewis Strauss.

Con Oppenheimer Nolan nos regala una película que conjuga muy bien todos los elementos y que ofrece un deleite a nivel técnico. La tensión que logra durante todo el filme y en especial en la secuencia de la prueba Trinity es magnífica. Nolan maneja con maestría la puesta en escena, pero la duración del filme no es su mejor aliado. Entrega todo para brindar un verdadero espectáculo cinemático y lo logra.