THE FILM “Oppenheimer” completed its unstoppable march toward Hollywood’s most important awards, winning the Academy Award for best picture.
Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece — the story of a brilliant physicist who oversaw the discovery of the atomic bomb, changing the world forever — is a classic blockbuster for mature audiences.
Filmed on a $100 million budget, “Oppenheimer” spared no expense, and bucked the recent trend of small independent films winning the most prestigious Oscars.
The cast consists of Hollywood’s finest A-list, a replica of 1940s Los Alamos was built in secret on a mountain in New Mexico, and the first-ever nuclear bomb test was re-shot with real explosives.
The effect was stunning, both for audiences and critics.
Released last July, “Oppenheimer” immediately earned laudatory reviews and exceeded box office expectations.
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The film raised nearly US$1 billion worldwide, and won a total of seven Academy Awards at last Sunday’s gala.
Dreams and Nightmares
Nolan, the director behind ambitious films like “Inception” to “The Dark Knight,” had just finished making “Tenet” when he discovered “American Prometheus,” the 2005 Pulitzer-winning biography of J Robert Oppenheimer.
He was instantly inspired to bring the life of an ambitious and tragic genius, his “dreams and nightmares,” to the biggest screen possible.
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Oppenheimer, who achieved global fame as the “father of the bomb,” soon regretted the consequences of his discovery, championed nuclear disarmament, and ultimately had his reputation destroyed due to his past Communist sympathies.
“The story doesn’t offer easy answers. But it offers some of the most interesting and compelling paradoxes I’ve ever encountered,” Nolan said.
Although Nolan is more often associated with genres like science fiction, he decided to imbue “Oppenheimer” with three other film tropes — the hero’s journey, the heist film and the court drama.
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The scientist sets out on a quest to defeat the Nazis in a bomb race, assembles a team of experts to get the job done, and is forced to defend his case in court, with the action constantly rotating between the three.
Cillian Murphy, a trusted collaborator on Nolan’s previous five films, is cast in the title role, with Robert Downey Jr as his bitter rival, Lewis Strauss.
The two men won best actor and best supporting actor last Sunday, respectively.
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The incredible ensemble cast includes Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, and Rami Malek.
“It’s like ‘Battle of the Bulge’ or ‘Ben-Hur,’ one of those movies where you just look around and every person in the movie is someone you admire,” says actor Matthew Modine, in the book accompanying the film.
Barbenheimer
There’s no doubt the film benefited commercially from the viral “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, in which thousands packed theaters to see a double bill including a very different “Barbie.”
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Coincidentally, two films from rival studios were set for the same release date, and neither wanted to back out.
“I’m glad that none of us did. It went quite well,” producer Charles Roven told AFP.
Even so, few could have predicted the extraordinary mainstream popularity of a feature film filmed partly in black and white, about such a heavy topic, and largely set around complex science and highly technical government trials.
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“If you’re sitting there wondering what the box office results of a three-hour movie about a guy named Oppenheimer who invented the atomic bomb would be, you don’t sit there and say, ‘It’s going to make almost a billion dollars,'” Roven recalled.
“So the fact that it’s had success — and critical acclaim — is very gratifying.”
The film is Nolan’s first film in two decades not to be released by Warner Bros.
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The director butted heads with his usual studio over its decision to put the film on streaming first during the Covid-19 pandemic, and moved on to rival Universal.
“Oppenheimer” was also disrupted by the Hollywood strike last year. The cast walked out of the London premiere in solidarity with fellow actors when the strike was called last summer.
From then on, everything went smoothly, as the film took home the biggest awards at every awards ceremony this season, from the Golden Globes to the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The best picture Oscar is the final — and most important — prize for this film. (AFP/Z-3)
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