J. Robert Oppenheimer (2024)

Julius Robert Oppenheimer is the titular protagonist of the 2023 historical biopic drama film, Oppenheimer. He is a theoretical physicist who's pivotal in developing the first nuclear weapons as part of the Manhattan Project, ushering in the Atomic Age.

He is portrayed by Cillian Murphy, who also played Jim in 28 Days Later, Robert Capa in Sunshine and Emmett in A Quiet Place Part II.

Story[]

In 1945, the first atomic bomb is successfully tested -- a triumph for J. Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhatten Project at Los Alamos. The politicians take further decisions about the use of the bomb away from Oppenheimer and the other scientists on the project. President Harry S. Truman orders the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Oppenheimer wanted Truman to brief Stalin before using it in Japan, but Truman does no such thing. The Soviets are threatened, and Oppenheimer believes that this started the nuclear arms race.

Though publicly praised, Oppenheimer is haunted by the mass destruction and fatalities. He later meets Truman, and after expressing his personal guilt, Truman berates Oppenheimer as he considers himself responsible for the decision to use the bomb. Oppenheimer urges restricting further nuclear weapons development, which Truman dismisses.

Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss is a retired Naval officer and high-ranking member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Strauss had recruited Oppenheimer as a scientific advisor to the AEC, after the war was over.

As an advisor to the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Oppenheimer's stance generates controversy, while Teller's hydrogen bomb receives renewed interest in the middle of the burgeoning Cold War. Oppenheimer says that a Hydrogen presented insurmountable technical difficulties and should not be pursued. He instead tries to convince the AEC to control the spread of nuclear weapons around the world.

AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss resents Oppenheimer for having publicly humiliated him by dismissing his concerns about exporting radioisotopes (which helped other nations build the Atomic bomb) and for recommending negotiations with the Soviet Union after they successfully detonated their own bomb. Oppenheimer suggested that US and Soviets should offer concessions to each other not to pursue a Hydrogen bomb as if US builds one, Soviets will have no choice to build one as well. Despite Oppenheimer's objections, Truman green-lights the H-bomb program. Strauss believed that Oppenheimer collaborated with the Russians during the Manhattan project, and this is how they were able to produce a bomb in such a short period after the war.

Strauss also believes that Oppenheimer denigrated him during a conversation Oppenheimer had with Einstein in 1947.

In 1954, wanting to eliminate Oppenheimer's political influence, Strauss secretly orchestrates a private security hearing before a Personnel Security Board concerning Oppenheimer's Q clearance. However, it becomes clear that the hearing has a predetermined outcome. Strauss claims that he was the Chairman of the AEC, but the charges against Oppenheimer were brought by William L. Borden (David Dastmalchian), a lawyer and executive director of the JCAE who wrote to the FBI. Strauss claims that Borden was a rabid anti-Communist and had access to Oppenheimer's security file on which he based his claims. It is strongly indicated that Strauss provided Oppenheimer's security file to Borden and used Borden to bring Oppenheimer down.

Oppenheimer's past communist ties are exploited, and Groves' and other associates' testimony is twisted against him. Oppenheimer brought his brother to work on the Manhattan project, and he was a known Communist. This also goes against Oppenheimer. Teller testifies that he lacks confidence in Oppenheimer and recommends revocation. Groves supports Oppenheimer. The entire review was done behind closed doors, as an administrative process, with no public hearing and no burden of proof on the prosecution. Roger Robb served as special counsel to the AEC at Oppenheimer's security hearing and was appointed by Strauss. He had full access to Oppenheimer's file while Oppenheimer's attorney didn't have access to his client's file. The board revokes Oppenheimer's Q clearance, damaging his public image and limiting his influence on nuclear policy.

Personality[]

Oppenheimer is a complicated man, to put it bluntly. Despite being a brilliant physicist who's helming the development of the nuclear bomb in the hopes of it bringing an end to World War II, he's also presented as arrogant, a womanizer, an adulterer, an inattentive father, and not that great of a husband. It's also left ambiguous if his attempts to restrict the use of atomic bombs are truly out of regret for his work, or if he's simply trying to make a martyr out of himself out of flagellating self-pity or, even worse, a desire for keeping the world's eyes on him as the father of the atom bomb without being overshadowed by the hydrogen bomb. Ultimately, for all his talk of regret, he cannot even wholly stand by his convictions when pressed about them and will backpedal to justify his actions despite the devastation.