So Oppenheimer at it's core tells the story of a chain reaction started by the creation
of the atomic bomb.
Early on in the film the sceintists working on it worry that setting of a nuke might actually
set fire to the atmosophere and inadvertedly lead to the destruction of the world.
This is something that greatly worries our titular character upon the theory being posed.
Rushing out to Albert Einstein with the calculations he asks whether building the bomb could kill
us all and this is something that comes full circle at the end of the film.
Now I have to say that the movie left a major impression on me and upon leaving the theatre
it's final shot has stuck with me.
It's haunting for a number of different reasons and throughout this video I wanna discuss
why it works so well.
This will go over the meaning of it, the thematic elements in play and how it all comes together
to bring us the perfect ending.
Heavy Spoilers ahead so if you haven't checked the movie out then I highly recommend that
you check out now.
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With that out the way, huge thank you for clicking this, now let's get into the ending
of Oppenheimer.
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So the movie closes out with Oppenheimer meeting with Albert Einstein to talk about what could
end up happening in the future.
It's a conversation that's been teased throughout the film and it's something that's also haunted
a character we'll talk about later on.
Oppenheimer ends up being completely rocked by it and he realises that his creation has
now escaped his control.
What I love about the film is that once they've built the bomb, he becomes absolutely powerless
in stopping it from being used.
Once the cats out the bag the entire world will eventually get their hands on it and
it could potentially lead to the destruction of our planet.
Now Oppenheimer is someone who has an endeering personality and because of this he's been
able to win lots of people round.
Throughout the film we watch as people happily fall in line with him and he very much showcases
the cult of personality.
This is in all aspects of his life and we see it ranging across a number of things that
happen.
Whether its the communist party, the teacher union meetings or Los Alamos itself, he's
great at gaining people who'll follow right behind him.
However Einstein correctly guesses that this wont last for long and that the government
will use him up and then spit him out.
He then predicts that they'll eventually parade him around but it'll be a self serving way
to give themselves a pat on the back.
This is something that happened in real life too with Oppenheimer being ostricised before
he was welcomed back.
Even recently Joe Bidens administration has overturned the hearing decision and he's now
seen as someone who was a hero to his people.
But it wasn't always the case and the films final hour centres around showing how people
turned on him.
Now I wanna discuss this all more in just a second but firstly lets go over the final
shots and what they really signify.
With Einstein the pair talk about that initial chain reaction and Oppenheimer realises it
may just be a delayed on.
Initially they thought the trinity test would wipe things out but the destruction of the
world might now be inevitable.
Oppenheimer is seen as an equivalent to prometheus and now the toothpastes out the tube you can't
put it back in.
As a student he watched rain falling into puddles and he was plagued with visions of
things he didn't fully understand.
However come the end of the film he finally gets his head around it and knows that by
building the bomb he may have set us off on a dark path.
As he watches the rain hitting the pond this then transforms into nuke sites and he imagines
watching missiles lighting up the sky.
It's haunting stuff and to make matters worse we know that the protests for a hydrogen bomb
have fallen on deaf ears.
The whole movie itself is somewhat of a ticking time bomb and those raindrops in the puddle
have now built up to this.
It brings everything full circle from those opening moments and shows the chain reaction
will continue to engulf the planet.
Now all of this destruction is based around the idea of escalation which is something
that thematically builds throughout the film.
Though the soviets are allies, there's always this idea that once they have the nuke that
they might become the enemy.
Escalation is something that's plagued every single conflict and its something that can
be seen across the entire globe.
Nolan has talked about this in his films before and it was something that showed up in Batman
Begins.
Gordon argued that if police started carrying knives that the criminals would end up having
to carry guns.
This would then lead to them having to buy kevlar vests which would lead to the criminals
buying armour piercing rounds.
Batman was seen as the next step up which would lead to masked criminals now running
the streets.
That of course came in the form of the joker and in our world Batman is basically the nuke.
Now that America has one the rest of the world has to at least match them but more times
than not they'll try and build bigger ones.
This ends up eventually creating the hydrogren bomb, a far more devstating explosive with
even more power.
This being out in the world could lead to people trying to make a bigger one than that
and eventually we'll hit a point we get a world ending device.
Now if youve ever read watchmen youll know a similar thing happens there with Doctor
Manhattan changing how warfares handled.
Russias jealous that the US have their own super weapon which causes them to stockpile
even more arms.
This leads into a cold war thats about to go hot and you wonder whether nukes being
brought to the table will lead to our destruction.
Looking at the film they actually have a debate within it whether it's better just to give
the soviets the plans to the weapon so that there's not a monoply.
In the moive they talk about the scientist Fuchs who in real life was the person that
handed over the secrets.
Now looking at history he actually got caught and he argued that he did this for the right
reasons.
Fuchs stated that the Russians should have the bomb because its a way to at least level
the playing feild.
Now whether you agree or disagree is another thing entirely but this move vastly changed
how wars were fought.
From this point onwards we've mainly had cold wars where there's always the threat that
the other side could fire back.
This keeps our hands off the trigger and instead of there being nukes flying everywhere espionage
and spying tends to be how things are fought.
Oppenheimer says that the atomic bomb should make it so we never have to have a war again
and there is the arugment that its de-escalated things too.
Now whether that's a good or bad thing is another debate but I actually realised that
Strauss somewhat represents the Russians.
Watching this youre probably thinking what does he mean but lets look at how the conversation
with Einstein is framed.
Strauss sees it going on but he isn't a part of it and he starts to suspect that Oppenheimers
his enemy.
This creates a major vendetta in him that he then begins to use as a way to discredit
and destroy his reputation.
Now this is all caused by paranoia and fear because he doesn't know exactly what's going
on with them.
Let's now go back to that metaphor of Russia and this is exactly what happened with them
too.
They saw a country working on making incredible advancements that they were not allowed to
be part of.
Ignored just like how Einstein ignored Strauss they then put plans in place to take them
down in covert ways.
The secrets to the bomb were gained with spying and double agents and backhanded moves just
like what Strauss carries out.
At the end of the movie its revealed that he manipulated everything and was very much
paramount in Oppenheimers downfall.
He represents someone who believes they can strike and act without reprecussions which
is also somewhat symbolic of how the nuke is used.
We never actually see them hitting their targets and though Ive seen complaints I think this
strengthens the movie.
Everything is supposed to be shown from Oppenheimers perspective and it shows just how removed
he is from the bombs usage.
Had he overheard the pond conversation he would of course realise it didnt have anything
to do with him.
Still though this shows how paranoia and fear can drive one to act in rash and irrational
ways.
He is very much the Saleri to Mozart but I also think he represents the worlds reaction
to the Nukes.
Not knowing something causes them to go out using underhanded tactics and in the end it
creates even more tension.
Knowing Russia have been testing bombs causes Strauss to look at Oppenheimer even though
we know he wasn't complicit in him getting them.
Now to me the idea of fear is played out perfectly in the end with Oppenheimer being at the heart
of what hes created.
The entire film feels like its a runaway locomotion racing away unable to be fully stopped.
Nolan has stamps, clicks and so on appearing in the soundtrack and this gives the idea
that its also like a train.
Works really well to build to this final moment where he realises that he's now no longer
in the drivers seat.
When meeting Truman we see that he is the only one who really understands its impact
but those with the power now dont really care.
Oppenheimer says he cant get the blood off his hands which Truman sees as meaning that
hes weak and a complete crybaby.
This is something that was apparently said in real life as well and it kinda shows the
short sightedness that the leader had.
Rather than seeing what the bomb could lead to he wsa just focused on having the power.
This is something that Oppenheimer has stripped away at the end and hes now going to be used
as a puppet and a pawn.
For standing up against the hydrogen bomb hes gonna be humiliated and once that debates
over he'll be paraded around.
Hes no longer got the power that he once had and he's imagining the nukes powerless to
stop it.
I actually see a lot of similarities in Nolan who was of course taken for granted by Warner
Brothers.
He moved to universal and has now made a massive hit whilst that companies hemorraghing money
left right and centre.
Now when looking at why this ending is so devastating you have to actually look at the
man himself.
Oppenheimer was a professor at a university that ended up making something that killed
hundreds of thousands.
He wasn't a politician and he wasn't a soldier he was just a man who had a fascination with
chemistry.
Now he's become the destroyer of worlds which is another quote that I want to put focus
on.
The saying was I am the destroyer of worlds...not cities but he's well aware now what his invention
could lead to.
The destruction of the entire planet could end up being next and thus he stands at the
pond shaken by his imagination.
His imagination is what plagued him as a student but now its gone far beyond his deepest darkest
nightmares.
He's created something that will forever be a blight on humanity and even today there's
still the worry of nukes being used.
If you weigh up the pros and cons of the bomb I think that the negatives vastly outweigh
the positives.
There's also the debate over whether they shouldve actually dropped the bomb which plays
into the anxiety.
Germany had been defeated and Japan was on its last legts which has made people debate
whether the two should have been detonated.
Oppenheimer realises though that these weapons are built to be used and that curiosity with
the hydrogen bomb may get the better of us.
So far its only been tested but if a country ever got to the point of losing a war badly
they might just fire one off.
I love this conversation that they have at the pond cos Einsteins the only person he
can really relate too.
He's the only man in the science community who has the knowledge he does and he's the
only other person who also has the fame.
Both stand at the pond helpless to change the future before he walks away leaving just
Oppy.
This is when his vision comes full circle from that opening and he realises the pandoras
box that he's just opened.
Will his weapon eventually lead to the destruction of the world, well I think thats something
we're just gonna have to see.
Ever since cavemen created clubs humanities always built bigger and badder weapons and
it wont be too long before people advance on what we have.
That's what the ending of Oppenheimer really means and it still leaves me shaking the more
that I think about it.
All in all this was an incredible film and that's why
I think that Oppenheimers perfect.
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