Oppenheimer: a Film Review

🎬 Oppenheimer dir. Christopher Nolan 2023

📍saw at the cinema

Counter-Gaze Meter: ★☆☆☆☆- Reproduced Gaze

Yes yes yes another Christopher Nolan masterpiece. What a virtuoso, a cinematic genius he is… I honestly can say with confidence that I did not like it and for now have not seen a film of his that I 100% liked. Oppenheimer where do I start, firstly, it was way too long, especially when it is telling the story of the creation of the worst invention in the world. Making a film about the MAN who invented something that destroyed people’s lives and, in some sense, celebrating him or at least humanizing him and giving him a platform, I question how ethical that is. For this film to have been boycotted in Japan and approaching the 80 year anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki makes me wonder even if it’s RIGHT to love a film like this that I consider incredibly self-indulgent. In my opinion, this film focuses more on the sensationalisation of the man and rather falls deaf to the realities of his invention.

Moreover, I’ve never seen so many White men who look so similar, all scientists of some sort yet I could not name you one actor except for Cillian Murphy. Now, I am not criticizing any of the actors’ performances they were all stunning. However, having only TWO women? One who is a rather passive character, the wife of Oppenheimer and an alcoholic, and the other one, the great Florence Pugh, who was just the SEXY and always NAKED mistress. This was severely disappointing to me because these two actresses are some of our best of our time and to waste such talent for such small and poor scenes is just sad.

My most favourite part is Emily Blunt’s tirade during the deposition. She FINALLY brought some light, energy and spunk to the film, I could have done with extra 30 mins just with Emily Blunt. The interpolation of random images of chemical experiments and then that incredibly ODD addition of Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh having sex as a product of his imagination behind him during his deposition… I mean how uncomfortable could that have been to film??? Of course, I don’t doubt the full consent and laid out rules and regulations of the set but imagine that, everyone is fully clothed and you see most of Florence. We barely saw ANY of Cillian’s body throughout the movie while Florence was fairly exposed throughout the film. I’m sure it was a calculated choice, and I’m all for female body empowerment but it’s the principle of it. For decades, the objectification of women's bodies was a default sequence in so many films with men barely showing any skin. So it would be quite refreshing if the male gaze evaporated in this manner and we set some norms that I don’t know one female boob = one male bum-cheek or something of that sort?

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Counter-Gaze Meter: ★☆☆☆☆- Reproduced Gaze

Overall, the cinematography was beautiful and the acting was great but I consider it an incredibly self-indulgent masculine movie. There was no space carved out for its female characters outside of the same old basic passive and objectified women that we have seen throughout film history. Not entirely surprising from Christopher Nolan as he mainly makes films with men for men. Just disappointing that the impact of the film was so great yet portrayed such a poor depiction of his brilliant female charcters who honestly deserved better.