Oppenheimer – 9

Big–in themes, personalities, production values, cast, drama, historical significance and lessons for today. Three hours and I never looked at my watch. Christopher Nolan’s trademark nonlinear storytelling technique–confusing and distracting in Memento and Tenet, inter alia–works to heighten the tension in scenes with more conversation than action. With almost 80 named characters it can be a challenge to remember who is who, but Louisa Hall’s novel Trinity gave me a head start and the use of familiar actors like Matt Damon, Kenneth Branagh and Casey Affleck gave some comfort. The key to everything, of course, is Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of Oppenheimer, which is riveting but never showy. (Unfamiliar to me, Murphy is a Nolan regular and Irish!) His story is tragic, but the story of the atom bomb, and man’s place on the planet, is bigger.