Oppenheimer’s film is the latest feature film from veteran director Christopher Nolan. As usual, Nolan’s films are always trending because they are known for their complex storytelling and his extraordinary cinematic experiences. Political intrigue, moral struggles, and romance are high points in Oppenheimer’s film, and Nolan manages to pack this film into a magnificent and intense story. Now, to review various aspects of the story and the conclusions of this film, we will immediately move on to comment on Oppenheimer’s explanation of the ending.
Three timelines, two points of view
Oppenheimer’s film begins with three different timelines but with two different points of view. We are presented with a timeline in which Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) undergoes a closed ethics trial, later discovered to be aimed at destroying his reputation as the most influential physicist of that time. Then the timeline where Oppenheimer went from being a student in Europe to leading and successfully executing the “Los Alamos” project, and the timeline where Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) undergoes eligibility tests to become United States Secretary of Commerce while arguing with Senator Aide (Alden Ehrenreich) regarding his story of knowing Oppenheimer.
Although it is divided into three timelines, this story actually presents two points of view, where the first point of view comes from Oppenheimer himself who is in a closed trial recounting his past, starting from his life as a student in Europe, his relationship with relatives and lovers affiliated with the communist party, until he accepted the “Los Alamos” project and managed to make a deadly atomic bomb.
Christopher Nolan also cleverly divides the two viewpoints. Namely, black and white for Lewis Strauss’ point of view, and a color screen for Oppenheimer’s point of view. From here, the story of the 3 timelines will continue until Oppenheimer successfully tests the Trinity bomb and the United States manages to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This moment became the climax where Oppenheimer was dubbed the father of the atomic bomb, received public attention, and was considered a war hero. But this moment actually became the beginning of the final round of Oppenheimer’s film.
Oppenheimer endings explained
After the success of the atomic bomb that he made, Oppenheimer felt an inner struggle. His moral compass was furious and he peaked at it after he learned how fatal were the effects of the atomic bomb he had created. Prayer now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds he became the lead act in the last act of Oppenheimer’s film. This led him to act in support of atomic bomb control regulation. Of course, his attitude became a pebble for the country, where the United States was starting a project for the development of the H-bomb.
This moment turned out to be an opportunity for Lewis Strauss, who saw an opportunity to drop Oppenheimer. The reason is that Strauss felt humiliated by Oppenheimer while he was undergoing tests to export isotopes in the past. He also felt that Oppenheimer had incited Albert Enstain to hate him when he had introduced Oppenheimer to Einstein in the past. Strauss then contacted William Borden (David Dastmalchian) to investigate the past of Oppenheimer, who was close to members of the communist party, and accused him of being a Russian spy.
As a result of this, Oppenheimer had to undergo an ethics trial. It was also through this ethics trial that Lewis Strauss named a figure who was considered capable of bringing Oppenheimer down, namely Roger Robb (Jason Clarke). Here it is also revealed that Oppenheimer’s morality not only deals with the effects of the atomic bomb he made, but also with various mistakes of his in the past. Him beginning by cheating on his wife, the appointment of members of the project who turned out to be Soviet spies, the death of his lover, the feud with Edward Teller and the affair with the wife of his best friend, Ernest Lawrence. .
From this point on, the timeline in Oppenheimer’s film is cut in half. Oppenheimer, who is undergoing an ethics trial and Lewis Strauss, who is undergoing an eligibility trial. The twisted plot began, where Lewis Strauss, who felt he would make it through the trial and was appointed Trade Minister, actually met resistance from the witness he felt would side with him, David Hill (Rami Malek).
David apparently revealed that many scientists actually hated Strauss and prevented him from becoming trade minister. Meanwhile, at Oppenheimer’s trial, his wife, Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt), who knew Oppenheimer was having an affair, defended Oppenheimer, and Oppenheimer eventually got up the nerve to fight the higher-ups at the trial.
Until finally, Oppenheimer declared himself loyal and loyal to the state, but had to lose access to security which prevented him from getting involved in government projects. But Oppenheimer himself seemed to be kind to the end result, but it was also revealed that his discussions with Einstein did not goad Strauss. The discussion turned out to be about a time in the past, when Oppenheimer discussed the mathematical formula for the effects of the explosion of the atomic bomb he was working on, which turned out to have the potential to destroy the world.
That explains the ending of Oppenheimer, a very intense and complex biopic. As Nolan mentioned in an interview some time ago, Oppenheimer’s ending will feel like a horror movie, actually revealing that the atomic bomb Oppenheimer created has the potential to destroy the world.
