Films

Oppenheimer

Contributed

10 Sep 2023 — 1 min read

By Jack Weir

There has never been a cinematic event the likes of “Barbenheimer,” coined after the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer on the very same day. The masses flocked to the cinema head to toe in pink, arguing over which order to watch these profoundly different films. I am grateful that 2023 has seen such a cultural phenomenon, filling cinema seats and provoking discourse among film lovers everywhere. 

Barbie is great fun, but the subject of my review is Christopher Nolan’s devastating biopic on the father of the nuclear bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer in an unforgettable performance, his expressive eyes and nuanced expressions are truly those of a man with the weight of the world on his mind. The film’s cinematography showcases Murphy’s emotive complexity in close-up shots, this unique approach allowing for greater emotional resonance with the audience. 

For a three hour long film, Oppenheimer demands the viewers’ attention throughout its entirety with its insistent pace and snappy editing. The film shows Oppenheimer’s own perspective in colour, while an outsider’s perspective is shown in black and white. This format flashes backward and forward in time to contextualise Oppenheimer’s life entire, creating tension through withheld details.

Ludwig Göransson’s hauntingly beautiful score mixes melancholy string notes with synthesisers rising towards an explosive cacophony, complementing its bold sound design which blew me away at the IMAX screening. 

Oppenheimer is more mature and considered than many of Nolan’s previous works, making this one of the most exciting and important films of this year.

Jack Weir studies Film at  Edinburgh Napier University.

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