Where Tenet (2020) feels like a condensation of all the faults of Christopher Nolan as a director, ‘Oppenheimer’ seems to be his response to those criticisms and a reminder of his mastery of filmmaking. Nolan cleverly weaves through the inception, development and reverberations of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as both biopic and political thriller.

‘Oppenheimer’ is a visual feat; ridiculously stunning in its original IMAX 70mm, and a spectacle of truly excellent sound design. The script was written in first person but ‘Oppenheimer’ flits between subjective colour sequence retellings and more objective black-and-white to incorporate the two different timelines, vantage points, and even genres that characterise the film. Flashbacks throughout the film chart Oppie’s journey from studying under pioneers of quantum physics, to establishing his lab and helming his magnum opus, the Manhattan Project, and eventually, his character assassination following the creation of the atomic bomb. Objectivity scenes colour Oppenheimer’s nemesis Lewis Strauss’ (Robert Downey Jr.) more politically charged version of events during his Senate selection hearing.

Ludwig Göransson’s scoring is beyond exceptional with the use of the rhythmic beat of a Geiger counter underlying the entire soundtrack and ‘Can You Hear The Music’ having a mind-boggling 21 tempo change in one take. The movie having an absolutely stacked cast and being a biopic presents a fun game of “spot that actor” and for more STEM inclined people, “[insert scientists’ name] is in this??” In the final minutes of the movie, a historical figure is mentioned and although it’s a completely serious moment, it feels like a Marvel easter egg announcement. With a cast as prolific as this, we can expect the acting to be phenomenal and it definitely is. However, there are some absolute standout performances from Rami Malek as David Hill; Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr as Lewis Strauss. ‘Oppenheimer’ is surprisingly sympathetic towards left-wing ideology considering it is set in an era of McCarthyism with Oppenheimer himself and several associates of his including his wife, Kitty and former lover, Jean Tatlock, were affiliated with the American Communist party.

From a technical standpoint, ‘Oppenheimer’ is functioning in the realms of a masterpiece so any real critique to be levelled against it is its politics. This is a movie about the man who pioneered an intervention that unleashed death on a staggering scale, and yet no singular Japanese body is shown. Arguments can be made against this like Oppenheimer is, if you can believe this, about J. Robert Oppenheimer and it’s from his POV so of course we, the audience, never see the bombs drop and its aftermath because neither does he. Also, to show the extent of destruction wrought on people via live action would almost be a ridicule as it could never compare. Besides, Japanese media has shown the devastation in a more poignant, profoundly evocative and perhaps more honourable way than Nolan could ever hope to, such as in Mori Masaki’s Barefoot Gen, Kaneto Shindo’s Children of Hiroshima and Shohei Imamura’s Black Rain.

The scene in which Oppenheimer addresses a crowd post-Hiroshima is a triumph of editing and sound design but it’s also a vehicle for Oppenheimer to try and imagine for a moment the desolation he has wrought. This scene highlights the manner in which Nolan adroitly uses the effect of silence throughout the film— not only as a poignant sound effect but as a narrative device. We encounter silence on the true first victims, the Native Americans who lived around the Trinity test detonation site, now known as downwinders, and of course, silence in regard to the Japanese victims, to reinforce his storytelling ambit. Measured silence in the few seconds after the test before we sonically experience a miniscule fraction of complete annihilation. Silence, reticence, and hesitancy when Oppenheimer is repeatedly asked about his position on the bomb by various associates and especially grilled by special counsel, Roger Robb (Jason Clarke) during his non-trial to reapply for his security clearance.

However, the choice of Nolan’s narrative boundaries coupled with this being most people’s first introduction to these incidents and a frightening decline in media literacy provides a radioactive cesspool of disingenuous discourse and inapposite idolisation of war criminals. We are constantly reminded throughout the movie of the asinine and potentially unneeded nature of the mission as well as Oppenheimer’s inability to fully acknowledge and deal with the consequences of his own actions. Despite this, there is still the fear of possible misinterpretation and glorification of Oppenheimer as we’ve seen with Fight Club and American Psycho.

As Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh) says to Oppenheimer, “The important thing isn’t can you read the music, it’s can you hear it.” Similarly, the moral “question” of this movie is not “is Oppenheimer presented as a good or bad guy?” but rather, “Can audiences be trusted?”