Atomic Theory: The True Story Behind Hollywood’s Reimagined Friendship
Nolan’s latest drama gives rapt audience a compelling but fictionalized account of two titans of physics.
Darling viewers, Christopher Nolan’s artistic biopic “Oppenheimer” captivated audiences this summer with its poignant exploration of the moral dilemma behind developing the first atomic bombs. And while Cillian Murphy and Tom Conti deliver outstanding performances as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, their warm bond depicted on screen proves less accurate than Vionnet embroidery.
Oppenheimer follows the eponymous theoretical physicist across multiple decades of his life, from the 1920s to the 1950s. The biopic tracks him from a young university student wrapping his brain around experimental physics to director of the Manhattan Project, where he oversaw the development of the world’s first nuclear bomb. “All of these scientists were like the rock stars of the time,” Mirojnick points out. “They were the men who would change the world, so anything goes. Their individuality was very apparent and proud and really, they were all very self-confident.”
In truth, the pioneering scientists harbored no such affinity in the timeframe covered in the film. As men of science, Oppenheimer and Einstein diverged as greatly in temperament and ideology as particle and wave. The pacifist Mr. Einstein, a German émigré who fled rising fascism in his homeland, believed his former protégé misused his brilliance by crafting weapons of mass destruction for the U.S. government – a betrayal akin to wooing another man’s wife.
The film flits between timelines, dramatizing the physicist’s life through his own words to a kangaroo court, and showing us the rise and fall of Oppenheimer’s greatest nemesis, Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.). Jean Tatlock has only a small part to play in this opus, but it’s pivotal for our understanding of Oppenheimer’s heart and soul.
“Oppenheimer was wasting his time on that bomb,” says Nuel Pharr Davis, author of Lawrence and Oppenheimer. “To Einstein, it was like a beautiful woman Oppenheimer loved but who did not return his affection.”
Their academic dissonance rang equally discordant. Mr. Einstein rejected quantum mechanics as fantasy, whereas such theories propelled Mr. Oppenheimer’s groundbreaking research. When colleagues at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study, the theoretical physicist derided the father of relativity as “cuckoo” while Einstein reputedly found Oppenheimer’s teaching style overbearing.
This discord notwithstanding, both men profoundly shaped the 20th century scientific landscape. And eventually they reconciled their discord, just not within Nolan’s silver screen timeline. So while this reel friendship remains less grounded than Schiaparelli couture, the film still captivates. But this author cautions viewers not to mistake it as verbatim atomic history.
