Lessons of 'Oppenheimer'

A Diary. Lessons 1-7

Great works of art stay with you, invite revisiting, trigger thoughts and associations far beyond their subject. This diary is a result of such a resonating effect. Here are the first seven lessons, with more to come. Some of them are just a couple of lines, others – a couple of pages. In no particular order.      

1. Human Talent vs. Artificial Intelligence

Nolan didn’t use any computer-generated effects to show the atomic bomb explosion and Oppenheimer’s visions of the chain reaction. His decision may be seen as a response of a great artist to the AI revolution. A consequential artistic statement is always unique, different, new – the qualities in which AI can’t compete with a gifted human. Technology can serve a vision, but can’t create a vision. As I say to my students submitting chatGPT drafts as their own, it can only imitate your voice. And only if you have one.    

2. Sense of Perspective

A crucial part of Oppenheimer’s life drama was his 1954 trial – humiliating, sinister, truly evil. As a result of the trial this great American was… deprived of his security clearance. For anyone born in Russia this trial and its result inevitably evoke comparisons with the trials of our greatest scientists and their results. With all due compassion to Oppenheimer’s unjust sufferings… God bless America!      

3. Narcissism Vaccine

One of the most consequential scenes seems uneventful and serene. In 1947, a powerful US Atomic Energy Commission member Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.) invites Oppenheimer to Princeton to offer him a directorship of the Institute for Advanced Study. At Princeton Oppie sees his colleague Albert Einstein standing alone at the pond and stops by to say hello, while Strauss is looking on. We don’t hear the brief exchange of the two great physicists, but when Einstein leaves, he ignores Strauss’s friendly greeting.

At the end of the film it’s revealed that the evil mastermind behind Oppenheimer’s 1954 trial and demise was Strauss. He was sure that back in 1947, at the pond, Oppie said something so awful about him to Einstein that the legendary thinker chose not to respond to his greeting.  

Then the scene is replayed, and this time we hear the exchange. It turns out that the two great scientists were talking about the horrific consequences of the chain reaction for the humanity and their responsibility for it. Einstein, deep in grim thought on his way home, didn’t even hear Strauss’s greeting.

So when people ignore us, confuse us, hurt us, it’s not necessarily about us.

4. Bipartisan efforts work

Very conservative Gen. Groves hired the very liberal Oppenheimer.

5. Risks. Decisions. Responsibilities

One of the most important exchanges happens between Gen. Groves and Oppenheimer right before the test of the atomic detonation. Oppenheimer mentions that there is a small possibility that the chain reaction may be unstoppable. “Are we saying that there is a chance that when we push that button we destroy the world?” asks the general. “The chances are near zero,” responds the physicist. The general does not show much relief. “What do you expect from theory alone?” Oppie asks. “Zero would be nice,” Groves responds.

Yet the button gets pushed, the bomb made and used, and the enemy defeated. Making decisions and taking responsibilities are two key components of leadership. New situations demand the hardest decisions, the highest risks. Truman was facing such moment in 1945. Today’s leaders face another unprecedented moment – with Putin’s nuclear blackmail in the middle of another war. Are they up to the challenge?

6. History vs. Fiction

Aside from its artistry and technique, the longevity of this film is guaranteed by its fair treatment of history. It’s rare and refreshing. Tarantino treats history as the spelling of ‘Inglourious Basterds’. Oliver Stone’s crude classic ‘JFK’ also does not belong in a history classroom. Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ does. So does his ‘Dunkirk’. Spielberg’s ‘Schindler’s List’ does. His ‘Munich’ does not.

But how do I know? How to separate a legitimate dramatization from a deplorable distortion? The answer is simple.

First, you pick a reliable source. Real historians, not ideologues. Like Stephen E. Ambrose’s ‘Band of Brothers’. Or Sir Martin Gilbert’s biography of Churchill. Why didn’t they base ‘Darkest Hour’ on it? Would’ve made a much better film. Or Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s ‘American Prometheus’.

Then you make sure your script is faithful to the factual core of the source. You will be losing a lot due to the cinematic time constraints. Don’t lose the essentials. You’ll be adding a lot to dramatize and clarify. Add only things that could have happened.  

(Example. The exchange at the pond between Oppie and Einstein—one of the key scenes of the film—came straight from Nolan’s imagination. But the well-known mutual respect of these two great physicists and their shared disregard for Strauss—who is just a suit for them—makes the scene historically plausible.)

Then make sure that the caliber of your actors is compatible with the giants they portray. Like George C. Scott as Patton. Or Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. Or Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer.  

And finally and most importantly. The caliber of your own talent as a director should be up there too. Nolan’s, certainly, is.   

7. Legacy. Messing up your own obituary

We are remembered by one, most consequential thing. No matter how many nice things we do throughout our life, if at the end we manage to do something big and bad, that’s it. Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.) was a businessman, philanthropist and public servant. In the 1930s he consistently tried to increase the number of Jewish refugees allowed in the US. During the war he effectively worked at the US. Navy Reserve, became a rear admiral. He funded the research by some of the refugee nuclear physicists. In the 1950s he became Oppenheimer’s chief opponent, and orchestrated his trial. Then he had his own political battle, public and painful, trying to become the Secretary of Commerce. He failed, largely because of his role in Oppenheimer’s demise. Then he was virtually forgotten. Now he’s yanked out of oblivion by Nolan’s film as Salieri to Oppenheimer’s Mozart.

Salieri, by the way, was a good, prolific composer. Does anyone remember his music? 

Another vivid example is Russia’s first president Boris Yeltsin. He did many good and courageous things dismantling communist legacy and expanding democracy. But he will only make it into the history textbooks as the man who handed power to Putin.