[Slate] The Man Who Could Not Become Superman, The Bomb Exploded Within

Director Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' Highlights the Emotion of Rejection
'Desire' Drives Nuclear Weapon Development, Creating the Poisoned Apple and Leading to Ex-Lover's Suicide
Suspicion of Loyalty and Security Clearance Revoked After Relinquishing Hydrogen Bomb with Responsibility
Bravery, Conscience, Pride, and Even Social Justice Are Broken

The film Tenet (2020) revolves around inversion, which reverses the flow of time, traveling between the present and future to prevent World War III. Director Christopher Nolan drew design formalism from Iosif Stalin (1879?1953) and intellectual traits and a MacGuffin from J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904?1967). The latter was an ideal model because he resembled Faust. Oppenheimer even once performed a Faust-inspired play at Niels Bohr's institute in Copenhagen in 1932.

Faust is a character who prioritizes knowledge, power, and personal achievement. He will do anything to satisfy his desires. Oppenheimer was similar, achieving many accomplishments as a physicist, professor, war project leader, and policy maker. However, none fully reflect his true self. For example, he formed close ties with governments that had different postwar objectives. He did not hide his ambivalent feelings toward nuclear technology. "Physicists know original sin. It is a fact that cannot be erased by vulgarity, humor, or exaggeration. It is knowledge they cannot lose."

Actor Robert Pattinson gifted Nolan a collection of Oppenheimer’s speeches containing the above sentence at the wrap party for Tenet. After reading it thoroughly, Nolan said in an interview with film critic Tom Shone, "It’s chilling. People of that era were debating the problem they had triggered. How can we control the atomic bomb? The atomic bomb creates an incredibly dreadful responsibility. Once that knowledge spreads in the world, what can we do with it? There’s no way to put toothpaste back into the tube."

He directed the film Oppenheimer. The plot is broadly divided into three parts. The first is the process of forming identity as a scientist, politician, and human being in Los Alamos; the second is the path of losing all status and beginning to see oneself as a public intellect. The former could be titled "Faust." It centers on the desires of an imperfect human. Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) places a "poisoned apple" on the desk of Patrick Blackett (James D'Arcy), his senior by three years at Cambridge. He envies Blackett’s earlier success and academic position. Consumed by lust, he even drives his former lover Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) to suicide.

Ironically, desire becomes the driving force behind nuclear weapons development. Oppenheimer gathers the brightest minds from the U.S. and Britain to Los Alamos. Exercising efficient leadership, he completes the mission of building the atomic bomb. Scientists who worked with him unanimously stated, "Most of the achievements at Los Alamos were due to Oppenheimer." "Even without Oppenheimer, Los Alamos would have produced the necessary results. But it would have been under much more stress, without passion, and taken longer" (Hans Bethe).

The latter part mainly covers the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) hearings. Oppenheimer is aware of his responsibility for developing and using the atomic bomb. Therefore, he shows little enthusiasm for the hydrogen bomb project. Instead, he advocates for joint testing with the Soviet Union or developing strategic weapons. He is tried and stripped of his security clearance for opposing government policy. His patriotism and loyalty are put to the test, and his secret personal life is exposed, leading to years of suffering and despair.

Interestingly, Nolan unfolds the background of repression as another plotline. It is the confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) held five years later. During the vetting process, actions such as FBI wiretapping, which violated the Constitution to obstruct Oppenheimer’s defense, are revealed in detail. Strauss falls and is frustrated in the face of this quasi-religious trial. Nolan presents this segment in black and white, an intentional choice to critique the black-and-white logic of ideology-driven politics. It allows the audience to witness a moment dominated by objective reality.

Nolan has long focused on the emotion of "being forsaken." In his representative works Interstellar (2014), Memento (2001), and Inception (2010), he expressed anger toward fading light. The enemy, once symbolized by time, shifts to ideology and thought in Oppenheimer. Courageous conscience befitting fame, as well as pride, dignity, and even social justice, are all broken. Science is used as a means to check external forces or control the public, causing side effects comparable to nuclear weapons.

Perhaps it is an inevitable tragedy. Knowledge grows fiercely, and the influence of mass media continues to expand. Communities become closed off to protect themselves. From the time he oversaw nuclear weapons at Los Alamos, Oppenheimer warned against excessive specialization and fragmentation. To him, the community was a fortress and a sanctuary enabling belonging and mutual dependence. However, public intellect was an achievement too great for himself and all humanity to bear. He realized this clearly the moment nuclear weapons were used. He spent his days with anxiety and failed to effectively fulfill all the roles entrusted to prevent human catastrophe.

The world wanted Oppenheimer to be a Superman. But he was merely a human resembling Faust. That may be the essence of humanity. Voices demanding innate desires persistently arise even amid material abundance and improved quality of life. Nolan asks:

"We grew up under the shadow of ultimately destructive technology. Even if that technology disappears from the world, we will not miss it at all. It is similar to a line from Sophocles quoted in the film Angel Heart (1987). It’s a sentence I learned through this film: 'How terrible it is if wisdom brings no benefit to the wise?' Generally, knowing something means having the power to control it. But what if the opposite is true? What if knowledge about something grants us power?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.