Oppenheimer. Quite good. The scale of it, the nuances, the setting, the replication by the filmmakers of the work of building a town in the middle of the desert—the same desert—it must have been uncanny. The cast and crew must have had a sense that the making of the film was a reincarnation of the Manhattan Project, only without the fact that in that project Oppenheimer et. al. were making something that could destroy humanity and possibly all life on Earth.
One thing I never really thought much about before, though I must have read about it: The Germans were working on their own bomb. And they had Heisenberg. Ergo, they had a chance of succeeding. Ergo, the Manhattan Project had to happen, despite the existential danger of it.
As to the Cold War that followed, what was that really about? (I mean, I know it was about the Bomb, but suppose there had been no Bomb? I think something akin to the Cold War, albeit, probably, of a less dangerous character, would have happened anyway.) I don't know the answer. One school of Marxist thought considered it a global class war, i.e. the interests of the global proletariat and the Soviet bloc plus Maoist China were the same. It is true, I think, that the state-socialist powers as such were something new under the sun. (Just how new is open to debate. See also Karl Wittfogel's Oriental Despotism, if you can find a copy.) But I don't know. There had certainly been “global” conflicts among “great powers” before, notable among them the one immediately preceding the Cold War, not to mention the one that birthed the USSR roughly thirty years prior—which had nothing to do with the politico-economic characters of the powers in conflict. Maybe the global class war tendency would have been correct if, and only if, Trotsky, with his orientation towards world revolution rather than Stalin's “socialism in one country,” had prevailed in the USSR after Lenin's death.
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I would like t see the film. Einstein thought that after the Nazi's were defeated work on the bomb should stop. Problem is, the technology was already started. The Soviets could have easily developed the weapon and they would have no problem in using it. Some other tidbits were the Plutonium works at Hanford far exceeded the scale of developing the bomb. It has also been revealed that Boeing's development of the B-29 (needed to deliver the bomb) was also more technically demanding than the bomb. This last piece was shown as to the depths that Boeing has fallen after buying McDonald and letting bean counters run the company.
jackjr
Level 7
Feb 19, 2024
0
I enjoyed the film immensely and think that Christopher Nolan is a superb filmmaker. I had trouble with President Truman's (who was brilliantly portrayed by Gary Oldman in a cameo role) cavalier attitude of dropping the bombs on Japan.
In real life, Truman's response to Oppenheimer is accurate to history, but events unfolded differently than in the film. Truman did not authorize the bombing, but he could have vetoed it. Truman stated that his decision to drop the bomb was purely military and that he believed the bombs saved Japanese lives. Truman always felt that he had done the right thing, but never again would he authorize the use of atomic weapons.
This was an all-star cast in a huge production. I'm glad that I first saw it on the big screen. I recently watched it again on Peacock and I'm sure I will be watching this movie several more times.
ballou
Level 8
Feb 19, 2024
0
Where did you watch Oppenheimer? 
Aaron70
Level 7
Feb 19, 2024
0
I got the dvd out of a library.
@AlanCliffe Dam, I wonder if my library has it? 
They want 20 effin dollars to stream it online…..
@AlanCliffe It’s streaming now for $5.99. Maybe I’ll splurge and watch it?!
@Aaron70 Sounds like a reasonable price. Whatever you play it on, it's the kind of film for which the bigger the screen is, the better.
Hard to say where the world would be had the nazis developed a nuke first?!
Ever read Dean Koontz’s “Lightning”?!
Aaron70
Level 7
Feb 19, 2024
0
Haven't read it, no. The one counterfactual I can remember reading is Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, which didn't hinge on nazi nukes, IIRC. Interesting book, and the cable series of it from a few years ago was good as well.
Lightning is my favorite Koontz novel. Of course it involves a time traveling hero and nukes and Nazis!!
You would probably like Lightning? It’s the only work of Koontz’s I’m aware of that isn’t in the horror genre…..
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