Oppenheimer: What the Movie Got Right and Wrong

[@igorbednarski8048]

The reason Nolan emphasised the probability of setting the world on fire so much is revealed at the end of the movie, when Oppenheimer during his conversation with Einstein says that he is afraid they actually DID set the world on fire, though not literally. He is using it as a metaphore for the threat of nuclear armageddon.

[@voulathomacos-lagonas8445]

Einstein warned him .....but did he listen ????

[@foglias]

@@voulathomacos-lagonas8445 Einstein never warned him. Actually, Einstein was the one who issue a letter to president Roosevelt about the inminent creation of a Atomic bomb by the Nazis and urged the US Government to start the nuclear program which later became the Manhattan District.

[@GlenHovindOfficial]

@@voulathomacos-lagonas8445 Einstein did not in fact warn him...

[@natashasullivan4559]

Also to remember, this movies is based on the book American Prometheus. A book about Oppenheimer and his life. How is life was affected by the Manhattan project, and the war, by the Mcarthy era politics. Not about the war, or about the dropping of the bombs per say. From what I've been told the movie does the book justice for what it needed to cram in.

[@michaelhardy9264]

1😊1

[@ClyDIley]

Yea, but the real question is did the book do a historically accurate and impartial job at depicting the historical Oppenheimer, which it most definitely did not. Oppenheimer lost clearance for several damn good reasons that should have gotten his ass canned years earlier if not for his position in the MP. These reasons are almost entirely glossed over if not outright ignored. Either his incompetent oversight or deliberate running of interference ended up providing the cover needed for Soviet spies to steal and slip the blueprints of the most deadly weapon in human history into the hands of the 2nd most murderous authoritarian regime that ever existed. The man was dusmissed and died in disgrace bc of his life long affiliations with card carrying communist party officials, who have been well established by intelligence of the day to be puppets under the direct control of the NKVD. Look up and read the Venona Files declassified in the 90's and you'll realize that McCarthy's paranoia in the 50's was largely justified by the extent of Soviet infiltration in institutions of the Federal government. Everybody wants to praise the movie for accurately portrayimg the book, but nobody wants to talk about the historically flimsical and selectively biased portrayal of Oppenheimer in the book.

[@Lowlandlord]

Yeah, as far as I can tell, this is accurate to history in parts where we have an actual record. It agrees with the book when we don't really have the record, like the exposition revealing Strauss was trying to sabotage Oppenheimer. As far as I know he never went and released that info to the press, just kept it secret for some reason 😅 We do know he made an official request for surveillance to Hoover actually. And then made use of the illegal surveillance. Dude doesn't really mention that it was illegal while he's defending Strauss though.

[@ashleytupper6049]

People thought a movie called Oppenheimer would only focus on the Manhattan Project?? It’s called OPPENHEIMER, it’s literally in the title

[@dakapo8985]

Indeed. Some people REALLY needs to learn what a biography is all about.

[@Anton2046gfkn]

Yes. Everyone but you and the school of cocky pseudo intellectuals thought it was about the Manhattan project.

[@NarestWhal]

It's moreso a confusion between the source material of "American Prometheus" and Oppenheimer's significance within the development of the Atomic bomb.

[@mgonzo3881]

@@NarestWhalI am the Mexican Prometheus

[@Anton2046gfkn]

​@@dakapo8985Your not a genius.

[@YanBaoQin]

Nuclear technician here, you did a pretty good job describing the physics, on par with my level of instruction when i was teaching beginners

[@georgebarry8640]

Technician or Technologist?

[@cadenmorse1024]

Strauss as portrayed in the film wasn't so much greedy as he was paranoid. Also Truman called Oppenheimer a "crybaby" not a coward.

[@raiccoon13]

Actually the german dub calls him a crybaby^^ cool little fact

[@kurtvonfricken6829]

He didn’t call him a crybaby to his face.

[@Lowlandlord]

@@raiccoon13 The English actor said crybaby, so they are the same, and that's what Caden said, so everyone agrees on this point here?

[@DoctorLoudonclear]

I’m not as versed in the historical side of this, but coming form the film side, Nolan used the black and white segments to represent what we know/think objectively happened whereas the segments in color represent Oppenheimer’s subjective perspective, which may not have actually happened the way we see.

[@michaelqiu9722]

No, black and white represent Strauss’ POV

[@mclovin8739]

What we know/think! Is that a oxymoron?

[@DoctorLoudonclear]

@@mclovin8739 yes. Because sometimes in history, maybe even oftentimes, we don’t always know for sure what happened. So what we believe did happen may not always be the case, at least not entirely. For example, the private conversations between Strauss. Only the people inside that room know for sure what was said.

[@c13lack5]

Wasn’t Nolan misquoted about that? Pretty sure he said B&W was Strauss’ perspective

[@fuckso2342]

Yea he was misquoted. Cillian Murphy said in the script B&W is Strauss perspective@@c13lack5

[@nikolaynikolov4086]

My favourite scene was when at the party, Oppenheimer got asked if he was familiar with communist ideas and he replied that he had read the original "Das Kapital" in German. The other guy replied "Ahh then you know more than the average party member". And this really made me grin, because it is actually true. And on top of that Adam Smith was banned in the USSR so even the people, who have read Marx's books, could not understand it, since it is a critique of Adam Smith's ideas.

[@phenom568]

The Ownership vs Property remark was interesting as well.

[@dakapo8985]

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was never banned in USSR, there was even a newer russian edition published in 1935 for study purpose. His ideas also had BIG influence on Russian society/economics pre-revolution, escpecially two of Adam Smiths students at Glasgow University Semyon Desnitsky (e. 1740-89) and Ivan Tretyakov (1735-79) later became professors at Moscow University and shaped Russian economics on Smiths teachings. And hundreds of reasearch papers in russian on Smiths ideas had already been made when the Soviets took power. So the the people who actually study Marx's and political science in general OF COURSE could understand it. Now could the avarege worker reag it? Nah. But they never really read anything by Marx either. Not even Das Kapital. What the avarege joe got to learn in school was USSRs own state take/interpretation in a lightned propaganda form of communism/socialism. And it never took the extreme form as it did in China with Mao's little red book either (were it was almost like a dogmatic bible).

[@algernonsidney8746]

Marx was actually heavily influenced by Adam Smith.

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

The USSR didn’t exist until 1917, so both Smith and Marx were readily available in Russia.

[@aquapb893]

I only caught onto the heavy water scene because of your Norway sabotage scene. Thanks for adding to my movie experience

[@MtnNerd]

Same it really helped

[@hypeflexington7081]

There is a great book called Assault on Norway that goes in depth about the raid and its planning. Absolutely mad Men they were.

[@Chili-nk4og]

@@hypeflexington7081I once visited that place i with my grandfather.

[@Ace0Spades17]

I took my sister to this movie and I have to say it was an absolutely amazing experience. She doesn’t usually like movies like this that make you think and question morality and stuff like that but as I was explaining some details she didn’t know while we watched she actually really enjoyed it. Normally she falls asleep with movies like that but she payed attention to the entire movie. Amazing movie and will see multiple times

[@12jswilson]

Christopher Nolan is a filmmaker that truly emphasizes using film and theater as a medium. He also loves non-sequential storytelling (Memento, Tenet) or messing with time in some way (Inception, Interstellar).

[@rustomkanishka]

He should take responsibility for Nolan fanboys who explain to you why Tenet was "Such an amazing movie, bro. I'll explain it to you bro".

[@12jswilson]

@@rustomkanishka overall, I'm a Nolan fan, but didn't care for Interstellar and I'm not brave enough to attempt to try to understand Tenet. He's a good director with some strong beliefs about how his industry should be and those beliefs definitely manifest in his work.

[@wuxiagamescentral]

He played with time and space in Batman as well

[@Morgan-ed2cb]

I'm generally not a fan of non-sequential story telling as it adds unnecessary baggage to a movie. It sometimes works and for Nolan he at times goes overboard with it.

[@jamess.7811]

​​@@rustomkanishkatenet was my first nolan movie and I still think it's great, thought not without significant flaws

[@Gallalad1]

I will say to be fair to the film's bias, I look at it as a film FROM Oppenheimers perspective. So the less than charitable portrayals of politicians to me were deliberate

[@dailydiogenes]

I found the setting the atmosphere on fire a double entendre as where if the initial nuke wouldn't the thought of a cold war could. And I feel this is addressed later in the movie with the ripples in the pond scene. Even if the first nuke doesn't set fire to the atmosphere say we shoot a nuke at Russia then they shoot one then we shoot 5 then they shoot 5 then we shoot 10 then they shoot 10...... Atmosphere is still on fire you feel?😅

[@dailydiogenes]

Amazing critique nonetheless.

[@somdedudeumet8170]

the final line in the move is oppenhiemer agreeing he set the world on fire

[@Naptosis]

​@@somdedudeumet8170He didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning

[@richardwallis9374]

I thought that he meant they may not have ignited the world in a literal sense but they very much did in a metaphorical sense.

[@mikej9470]

Get some trinitite! Trinitite rocks. Trinitite was the substance formed when the Trinity device detonated, sucked up the sand, liquified it, then the molten radioactive glass fell around the Trinity site. It's a unique piece of history. It is illegal to collect from the Trinity site but any collected before 1950 can be bought and sold.

[@nintendude794]

Neat!

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

I really appreciated your overall commentary, especially in relation to the Cold War!

[@gingerfurrdjedi6211]

I finally saw it last night! Great watch!! He's not joking, the sounds in the theater we're palpable and I'm glad I listened to my wife and went to see it in the theater! You could literally feel it!

[@phenom568]

When I saw the title i hoped you would mention the apple. Im about halfway through American Promethues and reading what I have really enhanced my second viewing. Alot of little things you miss but if you've read the book you can catch. Regarding Oppenheimer as a Soviet Spy, there really is little to no evidence he was. However there is a letter written from a Soviet diplomat to Beria (yes that Beria) which specifically mentions Oppenheimer is a Soviet agent. However its likely this is an overstatement or the writer is attempting to make himself seem more successful than he was. That said we would know by now if Oppenheimer was a deep cover agent as there is no reason for Russia to hide that info. Enjoyed the video and would love to more takes on the history of this movie.

[@purpledevilr7463]

I’ve watched it twice. I got goosebumps at the end each time.

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

Dear Steve, thank you for your advice. It prompted me to actually go to the cinema for the first time in years, and I was as blown away as you were. I watched the movie in original English.

[@BackYardScience2000]

12:45 , potassium cyanide is a solid. Straight cyanide (HCN) is a gas. You either need potassium or sodium cyanide, or any other solid cyanide to do any sort of poisoning unless you're doing it in a gas chamber. Only then can you use straight cyanide. Cyanide itself is also acidic, so if a gas is used it will react with whatever it touches to produce solid cyanides.

[@Night-Fire-nj1rd]

The thing that stood out the most to me was when I saw Josh ask Drake where Hiroshima was

[@Versatilty]

It is a very good movie. Make sure to see if in IMAX if possible it is worth it.

[@InDeathWeReturn]

Why? What makes it better/worth it?

[@justicebrown1077]

@@InDeathWeReturn The sound design of the overall movie is stellar, but no scene will come close to the nuclear test at Los Alamos. I wont describe it here, but you will *not* get the same experience if you dont see it in a theatre for the full surround sound effects. That scene really demonstrates the force and power of the bombs, better than any other movie has imo.

[@dakapo8985]

​@@justicebrown1077 It was along time ago. A really, really, reeeaaally long time ago i watched a movie in a theater with a scene that was over 10min long that made everyone in the cinema watch in complete silence. So fucking goooood.

[@LuckyAJC]

​@@InDeathWeReturndon't bother watching in imax, 99% of the movie is just people talking

[@hichaelhighers]

Yes, I'll make sure to visit the one cinema in the world that shows films in IMAX.

[@cooldudeninja0219]

I saw the movie and will agree this is a must watch in theaters to really get a feeling of events going on. I enjoyed the youtube video as well and it's a great work which really helps me understand the other person view point while also giving some background on things going on in that time.

[@hypeflexington7081]

The trial scenes were bonkers. Shit was brutal and nuts that his lawyer wasnt privvy it seemed to things they to which they would refer.

[@Naptosis]

17:03 I think part of the issue, is most people have only experienced Japan, & Japanese culture through the lens of their post-war 'pacifism', and high technology. Their export of media and artwork that is now world famous (like anime) only happened because they had all their dangerous toys taken away, and the other products they produced were the equivalent of 'Made in China' today, ie.: trash, and widely derided - until the quality increased in the '70s &' 80s - now 'Made in Japan' is a sign of quality. But that's _Neo_ Japan. The Allies were fighting the Japanese Empire of old, of Nanjing+, Divine Wind, Unit 731, and for the Americans; Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were brutal in both victory and defeat, and the Americans tried all sorts of stuff during & after battles, to get the Japanese to just surrender & come eat MREs. Instead Japanese soldiers would commit to mass-suıcıdal charges with swords and bayonets, that you _did not_ want reaching your lines. And that wasn't even on their home soil. The climate was, very literally, much different to today. If history has taught us anything, it's not to anger the Germans nor the Japanese. And unfortunately, it's taught us that if you've only got 2 weapons, you'd better not miss.

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

First of all: THANK YOU VERY MUCH! You recommended to watch 'Oppenheimer' in cinema, and so I did. It was in original language (I'm German) with German subtitles which I only looked on when I hadn't quite understood which seldom was the case. The movie was 3 hours but I didn't feel any boredom, not a single minute. And this is though I already knew what happened. I actually dwell some kilometers away from the cinema and I walked there because I live in the beautiful city of Wuppertal where you can walk through the green landscape and enjoy the nature around you inmidst of the city. And then I arrived at our quite small cinema and I watched 'Oppenheimer'. It was amazing! BTW: The chronology wasn't any issue for me at all. I'm used to have to put things into order since Tarrantino.

[@cleanerben9636]

I like how everybody always forgets the Chinese front. The worst front of the entire war. Also the oldest front given that it started in 37

[@TOOTOO-f6v]

what? Japan deserved the bomb.

[@Lowlandlord]

Well, it's not really a front, as it was spread all over the Chinese coast, and it is technically part of a different war than the war in Europe. Like the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars overlap, but America was never allied with Napoleon. Also, not as much of a thing by VE Day (May 8th 1945), as in the Imperial Japanese Navy lost the last of it's capital ships, and ship fuel, on April 7th. Makes it very hard for an island nation to fight on an island not their own (and even then) when you can't use ships. So yeah, saying the war was still "raging across Asia" is something of an overstatement.

[@Pancakesss]

Great video stak can’t wait for the next Oppenheimer video. I saw the film in theater, it was amazing, and I completely agree with what you said.

[@grandflash1347]

This is about 5 times a better vid of 'what Oppenheimer got right' vs. what 'it got wrong.' Most live in their in mother's basement without bothering to do any particular background research, without the benefit of any historical situational appreciation or referencing to wider historical resources available, simply for the short cut benefit to their own channel views and likes. Really good job dude. Thanks for the wider background context and research from your point of view. Extra effort put in here. It really shows. Repsect.

[@georgebarry8640]

I agree. RESPECT.

[@Lowlandlord]

Lol, this was such superficial research tho. He spent more time talking about the bomb igniting the atmosphere than they did in the movie, and most of it in the movie was disproving the math, and then joking about it, and then explaining the joke to the general. And the real math is still more than 0, it was like 1 in 300 million. In the '70s the math was looked at again, by people who knew more about nuclear bombs, because some had existed by then instead of zero. There math, lower than 1 in 300 million, still higher than zero, it is possible. He conflated the opinions of Truman and Leona Woods with that of everyone, ignoring that MacArthur was against the bombs, and many other. He said the war was still "raging across Asia", after VE Day, over a month (well, April 7th to May 8th, so month and a day) after the IJN lost the Yamato on it's suicide mission. It's very hard to think of Japan as being a threat to anyone outside of Japan by that point. Also ignoring that Truman knew the Soviets were going to help in August, which they did do, incase we want to question their follow thru, on this they did what they agreed to with him, three months after VE Day to the day. He did alot to defend Strauss, ignoring the actual laws he broke in asking for and then receiving illegally recorded wiretaps and other surveillance. And yeah, Oppie was super dangerous to American security because he made use of his free speech rights and spoke on political issues. And he was also a little politically naive, although the end of the film seems to show him having become quite cynical in thinking that the world will be destroyed because of nuclear weapons, just not from the test, from the long term proliferation of them because of people like Strauss and Truman. I'm also not sure how much credit Strauss gets for calling for America to accept more Jewish refugees, because although he was one of only a few Americans to do so, he was one of MANY Jewish-Americans to do so. Which I do think was the right thing to do, just incase we confuse my critique of the individual for critique of a cause he supported, my point is that it was used as evidence of how he was exceptional in this regard, but when we look at the broader context it was, and remains, pretty standard for Semitic people to not be anti-Semitic. Shocker. I would say more exceptionally, he was against Zionism as a concept, he did not think that Jewish people had an inherent right to a country they had been physically divorced from for nearly 2000 years, but maybe that's my personal politics. Anyways, I did not find this to be of greater depth than your average Mojo video.

[@Bbsgirl1023]

I am SO glad that Christopher Nolan is the one that took on this project. I genuinely don't think anyone else could have done it this well

[@TheGunpowder13]

One point I want to bring up is that the reason they bring up the world ending part of the nuke is for the figurative sense. SPOILERS It is especially shown at the very end when Einstein ask him if there was a chain reaction that would end the world he said yes.

[@cliffloyd5557]

Would have loved for you and Kyle Hill to review this together, you do the history, he can cover the science

[@0utkas.t__851]

At one point I was like "Damn Iron Man, chill!"

[@LarySeeAircraft]

my favorite reference was in one of the flash-forwards scenes when they were talking about large amounts of radioactivity picked up over the pacific ocean (i think) leading to them thinking the Soviets had developed a bomb, where Oppenheimer says they would not only need a plane they would need an bockscar, alluding to the face that the soviets built a copy of the B-29 used to drop the original 2 atomic bombs on herocima and Nagasaki due to the aircraft used to drop on Nagasaki, where the soviets captured 4 b-29's and disassembled 3 of them to know exactly how to build them and built a carbon copy of the aircraft called the Tu-4 there for meaning that they had a "bockscar" to deliver the bomb. that game me a little chuckle but I think im the only one in the cinema who got that reference.

[@Darklife66]

FYI, he said Oxcart, not bockscar. It was a way make fun of the very impractical design of the first H-Bomb. It was massive, and very hard to deliver by plane. Hence the oxcart reference .

[@carlton0019]

RDJ was fantastic, i sometimes forget how good an actor he is.

[@antona.8659]

I was not familiar with the story of Oppenheimer before the movie beyond the most basic stuff: he helped to create the bomb, was haunted by the consequences of its usage, and was called a crybaby by Truman. But with you explaining the story of Strauss and how the movie distorts his character, it makes me like the movie less and I now have less respect for Nolan. It reminded me of how HBO's Chernobyl would vilify certain figures for the sake of making a more basic narrative. The movie could've kept Strauss as a jealous ex-girlfriend trying to destroy Oppie's life while still acknowledging all the stuff you mentioned, making him less of a one-dimensional villain and instead portraying him as someone with layers.

[@DeathMessenger1988]

Who did HBO Chernobyl vilify exactly?

[@ScilliRhexi6344]

Stakuyi is a genuinely good guy I’d like to say, after listening to his and his wife’s podcast up until episode 70 on Spotify, can’t believe i listened to your episode about Annie Oakley and 3 months later I was in college learning about her

[@jacobbockover1628]

In the 80s people were still talking about "lighting the atmosphere on fire"

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Dopes

[@TheRedneckGamer1979]

The narrative of the movie was pretty clear that the "lighting the atmosphere on fire" thing that kept coming up was a narrative metaphor for Oppenheimers oppinion on fusion weapons and the state of the cold war that was sprinkled throughout the movie, like they weren't even really ambiguous about that.

[@yousaidthusly461]

Strange that this movie has one of the most direct sex scenes in theatrical movies to date, it reaches Wolf of Wall Street levels.

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Very unfortunate

[@TAP7a]

He was a serial womaniser, and his lady loves were a huge influence on his life. It would be deeply wrong to omit them from the story, it would be wrong to avoid acknowledging the depths of the intimacy too. I'd say it isn't strange at all, it would be weirder not to, like doing a biopic about Newton and avoid the entire Leibniz thing, or doing a biopic about Thomas Midgeley and missing out the whole CFCs and leaded gasoline thing. The strange thing really is just how prudish Hollywood remains about nudity when it embraces violence so readily

[@HandledURmom]

@@TAP7a haven't heard anyone say Hollywood is shy or "prudish" with nudity...most ppl state the opposite when this the topic

[@Nimajneb42069]

The opening 5 minutes of wolf of wallstreet includes road head and snorting cocaine out of a strippers butthole. They are not even close to being on the same level lol

[@Lowlandlord]

@@HandledURmom Hmm, I think the rating standards will check you on that. Nudity is PG-13 at a minimum, R if nudity with sexuality. Oppie here for instance did receive an R. Dune had a fair bit of violence, but no naked Florence Pugh, PG. Furiosa and Mad Max Fury Road both had 14A, I don't remember any sexuality, quite a bit of violence, some of it fairly graphic. Hollywood has long been criticised for considering a naked body as bad if not worse than a dead body. This is in part because of how the rating system works, the body that hands out ratings is not "professional" per se, the MPA is a non-profit that rates movies based on some simple criteria that are largely devised by parents, and as I recall the people who do the ratings are themselves just like typical parents.

[@geodkyt]

Somethung that I've noticed laymen tend to get entirely wrong about Oppenheimer and Strauss is the conplete lack of understanding of how poor of a security risk Oppenheimer was, even justvsolely based on what was known without any major investigation. His sympathy to Communism, his *extensive* contacts with Communists, his *extremely* lax attitudes towards security in general - especially when in a supervisory position dealing with known Communist sympatjizers who were committing major security violations *at a time where he was aware of Soviet attempts to infiltrate the Manhattan Project and post war nuclear programs* , etc, would have been sufficient to deny him even the *lowest* level of security clearance, much less his Q clearance (equivalent to a current DoD TS/SCI - literally the highest *by law* clearance one can have). As Teller (when interviewed as part of the Oppenheimer security review) put it - he didnt think Oppenheimer was a *knowing* security threat in the sense of actually being a Soviet spy, his lackadaisical approach to security - especially when dealing with people he *knew* were Communist sympathizers - represented too gigh a risk he would fail to take the appropriate actions to prevent a spy from leaking critical information to the Soviets. His blindness towards the thought that people he personally liked or sympathized with could actually be security risks was itself, an unaccepatable security risk, even if you felt that Robert Oppenheimer himself a man of great personal integrity (and his affairs raised the spectre of his ability to be compromised by blackmail or a honey trap).

[@autozone5695]

Great point. As a layman who only discovered his relationship with communism after watching the film, I personally thought the movie did a good job depicting exactly what you describe.

[@rentacowisgoogle]

One thing that's accurate in the movie is how, when smart people think about stuff there are sparks and spinning lights.

[@luthfinst3023]

Man, thanks for the explanation for the difference between the atomic program between us and germany. I've read some nuclear related article before watching oppenheimer and still don't understand why the german go with heavy water until you explain that the german use natural uranium instead of enriched one. Great video by the way!

[@deerhunter7966]

Regarding Strauss against Oppenheimer, you're incorrect in your assessment that he was "only a friendly rival" and not being backstabby. No. He was. As a person who knows how the political machine works from the inside, it was very accurate, as Ive experienced similar situations. It actually brought back my own trauma from my experiences.

[@whiteeye9584]

so you claim that this guy is wrong because of your feelings ? red alert !!!!! this person is crybaby

[@willerwin3201]

Might be interesting to watch a discussion about this with a nuclear engineer or physicist.

[@baxter1252]

At least one nuclear physicist has reviewed it, both for accuracy and in an "is it worth watching " way. She has a KZbin channel, she's named Elina Charatsidou.

[@fruzsimih7214]

To be fair, the idea that the atomic bomb started a chain reaction that could not be stopped and would set the world on fire was the whole message of the movie.

[@reubenallen7789]

It’s weird how little the British involvement was mentioned. Heck, James Chadwick isn’t so much as mentioned, but he lived in Los Alamos and was instrumental to the project, even described as the closest person to Major General Groves ffs. I think whoever wrote the book American Prometheus downplayed and at times omitted the British’ involvement in the atom bomb. This sets a damaging historian precedent, as now the work of 100’s of people is forgotten, when this was the perfect chance to bring attention to them.

[@lewislewis4240]

I’m not surprised it’s an American made film and giving credit to the brits wouldn’t fit “American is best” narrative they’ve been pushing for years now and also the Anglophobia most American had back them probably impacted the book you said.

[@harrykirkham220]

@@lewislewis4240Nolan is British

[@dickyboi4956]

​@@lewislewis4240delusion. Why yall gotta pretend we still live in ronald reagan times?

[@wuxiagamescentral]

You gotta put a face to such a horrible invention and since the Americans unleashed it an American has tot are the fall

[@phenom568]

The book does talk about the British involvement. The movie just shows the british scientists coming over but really its just introducing Fuchs.

[@skrv8588]

Fingers crossed for Napoleon

[@robertm.8653]

I like having a name connection to this important figure in histry, great video Stakuyi!

[@nickshane5985]

I still want Spartacus. Tell us how bad it is from a historical perspective.

[@zymonx5624]

It was perfectley accurate

[@hypeflexington7081]

100% accurate. They talked to ppl who were there and shot it on location at the actual places.

[@rexromana]

Seems like the first intelligent movie in a long time, I wanna see it now.

[@kyrieirving175]

Loved the movie! And great KZbin review too

[@balkanboi06]

goated review of the film now I want to watch it again!!!

[@mastershellv6103]

It makes cents that they painted Strauss in that light when it is from Oppenheimer’s perspective

[@IconicwithD]

I was so happy to get to see this movie in the theaters. We saw this on my ma's birthday, and we were blow away, wink-wink. We were worried that three hours might be too long, time flew by as we watched! Just goes to prove, you make a good movie that can really entrance your audience, you can get away with a long movie.

[@vincehellier5840]

Considering the last few film and TV show reviews, I was shocked not to hear Stakuyi go off his brain about leather armour... 😉😂

[@MegaJman143]

I’ve been a history nerd my whole life, and I got my defense in physics. I spent the whole movie in a mixture of fascination, and wonder if it makes sense to anyone else without that background

[@Loquacious_Jackson]

They're trying to erase black people from history, Christopher Nolan is a racist.

[@DerDoenerInMir]

It does

[@Neutral_man]

When i watched it this wednesday in the theater it was epic and i loved it

[@LG23-ho3zk]

Japan loved this movie

[@matthewct8167]

For real, or are you just mocking them？

[@LG23-ho3zk]

@@matthewct8167 Mocking, just poking jest at the fact that it is already banned in Japan.

[@P-C-Principle]

No he's serious. The government hated it which made the people wanna see it. Japan is a funny place, they love debauchery and violent cartoons. But lord have mercy on those who remind them of their past

[@matthewct8167]

@@LG23-ho3zk they actually haven’t. It has not received a release date yet, but the Japanese government didn’t ban it. They usually wouldn’t. “Controversial” movies in Japan are restricted in Japan not through government action, but from cinemas just not showing it.

[@reeyees50]

​​@@matthewct8167he is mocking them, ofc they would hate this americanized atrocity

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

08:00 Actually, fast neutrons can split nuclei and this can release a lot of energy - but they don't make a chain reaction. However, fast neutrons on ²³⁸U can be used in FFF (fission-fusion-fission) bombs. The Soviet AN-602 constructed by later peace activist Andrey Sakharow was originally planned with an ²³⁸U mantle which would have doubled its power. Sararow decided to skip the 3rd explosive stage, and the bomb ended up having "only" 50 to 60 megatons of TNT equivalent.

[@grovermartin6874]

I was shocked that at no point was I aware that I was sitting on the edge of my seat for three hours! The only headscratcher for me was trying to grasp how a man who looked so, uh, unprepossesing as the movie Oppenheimer actor could be such a babe magnet. Then I searched for images of the real Oppenheimer and was more perplexed. Smart women apparently dig smart men.

[@lordodin92]

17:32 So I know this video is a few weeks old but I just saw the movie and I wanted to ask. What's your thoughts on the prevailing theory that the major reason for pushing the use of the atomic bomb was mainly because Russia's intent to invade Japanese territory and how the us top brass didn't want to give Russia any concessions, and the excuse of saving American lives was greatly exaggerated?

[@popcornparker5390]

Great overview! Thanks!

[@guynemer53]

Nothing to lambast about the movie, eh? You know why? No freakin' leather armor!!!

[@grimcreeper5830]

I loved the movie! I saw it in IMAX. The one complaint I have was why I thought sitting next to the speakers was a good idea😂

[@VinayShekhar]

4:30 The opposition to the use of Bhagavad Gita during the sex scene doesn't come from 'Hindu nationalists'. Practicing Hindus found it offensive that their holy text was depicted disrespectfully in the movie. 'Hindu nationalists' is just a dog-whistle. The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu religious text as well as a philosophical treatise on life. Practicing Hindus such as myself keep the Bhagavad Gita in our little prayer rooms/shrines at home and treat it with utmost respect. Many non-Hindus keep it in their bookshelves and derive value from it in their lives, and that's ok. But to use it as a prop during sex which itself was totally unnecessary is what annoys us. That said, my friends and I still watched the movie despite the mild annoyance because the movie itself is brilliant. Bhagavad gita was very influential for Oppenheimer, especially in the post-war years. One of the main teachings from the BG is to perform our duties and responsibilities to the best of our efforts without getting attached to the outcome. This frees us from the consequences of that action. This was of consolation to Oppenheimer. The guilt that he felt after the dropping off the A-bomb was hard to get rid of. But when he remembers the line from the BG, he realizes that he did his actions out of earnestness and he need not feel responsible for the deaths. The teachings from the BG were like a metaphorical handkerchief to help wipe the blood off his hands. To take such a consequential thing and reducing it to a mere sex prop was a weird decision for Nolan to make.

[@Lowlandlord]

Definitely odd, but not THAT odd when you remember that for most people around the world before the movie, him saying it is probably what he was most famous for, up there with the nuke itself. Of course when she wants him to show how he can read Sanskrit it's going to be that one phrase. Why during sex? I guess to setup how "kooky" she is, which I think gets into abit of a sexist reduction of a person who had mental health issues that Nolan didn't want to spend more time on that "women are crazy with their emotions, she likes it when he reads Sanskrit in bed and can't decide if she loves or hates him and his flowers". As for Hindu nationalists, one of the main complaints was from Uday Mahurkar, wrote an open letter calling it an attack on Hinduism. He is a member of the BJP, which is arguably a Hindu nationalist party, and is the author of "Veer Savarkar The Man who could have prevented partition", Savarkar literally founded a Hindu nationalist movement. Which btw, is not inherently bad, it does become bad when it's used as a weapon against Indians who have different religions, which the BJP has done.

[@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts]

People always feel the need to throw random sex scenes in things for no reason, its a shame, no one goes to a movie about a nuclear scientist in order to watch sexual acts.

[@paulkyle]

wdym random? the movie is called "Oppenheimer", not "Oppenheimer in Science". Even if we omit historical context those sex scenes served the story and showcased Oppy as a deeply flawed human for being careless about his actions impacting others (kinda the whole point of the movie)

[@commandercostas]

Considering Oppenheimer's story it isn't too out of place here

[@sernoddicusthegallant6986]

Classic americans will be happy to watch a film about the creatuion of the most dangerous weapon in earths history but hide their eyes at the kind of stuff thats responsible for every living human being's existance

[@hjhaminahhjsapawi9679]

Your analysis of the movie is interesting. I too think the movie is an amazing experience with brilliant & effective acting led by Cillian Murphy and all the impressive cast. The movie also increases my knowledge about the first invention of atomic bomb. Hopefully this movie, Christopher Nolan & Cillian Murphy receive appropriate recognition for their wonderful works.

[@Nemo-Nihil]

My mom went to Japan in the 70s, 30-ish years after the bombs. She tells me every time she recounts this story, how the Japanese people at Hiroshima (because she went and visited the city around the anniversary) came up to her because she was noticably American and thanked her for the bombs. The bombs ended the war. The bombs saved more lives than they destroyed. The Americans helped rebuild Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This story had a profound impact on me. We were at war. Germany was beaten, yet Japan continued to fight. The Japanese people were starving (Grave of the Fireflies is an excellent film on the end of the war from the Japanese side), the Japanese were using the dredges of their military. My mom had repeatedly told me the Japanese people would have fought down to the last man, woman and child. Did the bombs kill a lot of people? Yes. But they saved so many more.

[@hypeflexington7081]

That is crazy. I can't imagine them thanking some rando American for nuking their country. Different mentality I suppose for a different time

[@IAmTheOnlyLucas]

The expected response from an American diabolist is: “Nu-uh, Japan was going to surrender. They didn’t need to use it. America is bad.”

[@killerboy4441]

You can try to justify dropping these horrific crime machines and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians any way you want, it was still the greatest evil ever perpetrated by a nation in human history.

[@awesomestgamer4075]

⁠@@killerboy4441 Sometimes, when you start a losing war and fortify your entire island nation, preparing and hoping for a invasion that would cost the lives of millions of people, but friendly and hostile, the enemy is a little hesitant to mindlessly attack you. The bombs were not a good option. The bombs were the best option available.

[@timedraven117]

@@killerboy4441 Well you could burn to death from fire bombing, screaming in agony as your entire nervous system is flashing in pain, flailing in panic, blind, confused as you die. Or maybe starve to death over months as you're forced to watch your friends and family die one by one from preventable disease, abuse from the Japanese army, and then finally starvation related diseases! Or you could at best die instantly, or over the course of a few agonizing days from radiation poisoning. When we used the nukes on Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen specifically because they had not yet been firebombed and turned to ashes. The great Tokyo Firebombing is argued to have killed more people than both nuclear weapon's put together (100,000 for the GTFB, 70-150,000 for the Atomic bombs depending on how you count). If we didn't nuke Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was a 100% chance of firey rain landing on them anyways and causing similar levels of casualties as the nuclear weapons. The only difference if we didn't use the nuclear weapons is instead of one plane dropping the bomb, it would be hundreds. As horrible as it is, the nukes were absolutely a blessing for ending the war and saving the Japanese people from genocide by starvation which was basically going to be the only alternative when Operation Downfall is shelved in favor of expanding Operation Starvation (Yes that was the actual name) and just starving the islands into submission.

[@geodkyt]

The fact that Oppenheimer was intereeted by Communist philosophy, while personally coming from privilege isnt surprising at all. There is a very strong correlation in Western, fairly free societies, between such people and being attracted to Marxism. 1. They are educated enough that the intellectual appeals of Marxism "make sense" to someone who thinks of themself as a "logical, ethically driven, thinker". After all, in a perfect world, distributing resources to people as needed would alleviate a lot of suffering. 2. They are isolated enough by their position from the harsh realities of life that they thibk that, given the opportunity, people in general will see how smart their ideas are and will jumomon the bandwagon of "sharing the wealth" without being greedy (aside from those evil bad rich people at the very top, who are clearly rich solely because they are greedy). 3. The Marxist concept of "effort" creating "value" and that value is a fixed constant versus a variable very much appeals to people who aren't directly involved in a productive field where they are forced to deal with the fsct that two similarly situated people can *still* hold the very same item at significsatly different values to them (which is the basis for *any* market economy - each side of the exchange values the thing X they are offered *more* than the thing Y they are offering - McDonalds values my $2 more than the cheesburger tbey are selling, while i value the cheesburger more than the $2 they are asking for. More importantly, the naïve types miss the next step... my friend who disagrees with my value on the cheeseburger and refuses to pay $2 for a "lame McFood Pill" has set an *equally valid* value on that exchange - he'd rather spend his $2 on a milk shake if the machine is working.) There are generally two broad categories of folks who support Marxist ideals in a non-Marxist state. Those who have little and see no good path for personal progress under the current system, and those that are comfortable enough to be isolated from a genuine struggle for survival and unconsciously assume everyone who isn't "evil" thinks like they do and will "play nice" if allowed.

[@whiteeye3453]

And this types of people still exist Even in these comments they said that Soviets were opresed by Americans attackers

[@reeyees50]

The movie did strauss very dirty, kinda pissed me off

[@robertortiz-wilson1588]

Same.

[@signeaarejrgensen61]

Thanks. Your comment made me research Strauss, that was eye opening 👍

[@applekiller9914]

The only thing i knew about Oppenheimer before this movie is that my grandpa thought he awas a whinner which im guessing is from the meeting with Truman.

[@Thatoffroadkid]

I want this man to be my history teacher

[@DracoMeteor91]

i have to say. i never saw such a good movie. the script was everything. the script was briliant

[@spitfeueranna]

Well if America is a free country with any political party able to form and anyone free to vote any way or associtate and gather in any way, then there is nothing at all wrong with being a member of the Communist Party, Republican Party, Democratic Party, Nazi Party, Beer Party, Whig Party, Libertarian Party, whatever. However, the truth of the matter is that as soon as political parties are form, democracy is immediately and easily subverted from within regardless of by which parties. WHen groups of people are conspiring to vote as a block, and not individually vote for the best random candidate, then yeah the levers of democracy go out the window. I saw this happen in 3rd grade when the popular kids got together at lunch, decided all who would be what officer, and voted as a block. Five guranteed votes for X as President, Y as Vice President, and Z as treasurer, completely undermined every other thoughtful vote in the class spread across voting for anyone in the class room. A single political party, so to speak, that of the popular kids conspiring together, completely destroyed the democracy of class elections and it was.. invisible.

[@tomhenry897]

Except communist use violence to control the ballot box

[@whiteeye3453]

And still comes weren't better option

[@DeathMessenger1988]

Just take a look at Brazil to see how "democratic" and "freedom-loving" left-wing parties really are. And I fucking hate right-wingers too, just to make clear how fucked the situation is. The main problem is that each and every political party/ideological want to place themselves as the absolute moral bastion, no matter how ridiculous and hypocritical their actions and arguments are. They fanatically reject not only opposition, but any kind of neutral questioning. They reject truth, or even logic & common sense, in favor of the narrative that best pleases not just their personal interests, but their ego. The same people who accuse capitalists of being imperialists/fascists will turn around and applause when their politicians defend or enact autocratic/fascist policies, like policing the internet against any opinions they dont like or disarming the population. And it doesn't matter how much you point out the dissonance, or even point out the similarities to historical events AND fictional works that display the result of such policies, like Demolition Man or 1984. They, quite simply, refuse to accept reality and claim you are too immature or uneducated to understand reality (their twisted perception of it, anyway). The biggest irony of any political ideology, especially Communism/Socialism, is that they are always just another religion. And they don't mesh well with logic, so they require blind devotion and obedience to the narrative over acceptance of factual reality and logic.

[@noobgetsflinged2082]

i should sleep, its 3 am, i wont, Oppenheimer

[@gyllenspetzfamily7993]

Love it! Thank you for this review.

[@enelson1976]

Great commentary.

[@ddbros789]

Never really got the full experience watched a low quality recording on a sketchy website the week after it come out

[@TexasNationalist1836]

What does heavy water taste like?

[@historyofeverythingpodcast]

like regular water, you wouldn’t really be able to tell unless you made ice cubes and the heavy water ice cubes will sink

[@TexasNationalist1836]

@@historyofeverythingpodcast is it even potable?

[@isaacm1929]

I think Mr. Nilered did a video on that.

[@rylian21]

I just watched it last night. This was an incredible movie, and I'm really, really happy that it's been so successful, that people are genuinely interested in this. It gives me a little bit of hope for the United States, and that maybe we are not actually a nation of utter morons.

[@manofbeard]

It didn’t give me hope for the US! It only confirmed what a great many people already know. The powers that be have throughout history stood on the shoulders of giants. Never really achieving anything of substance on their own. They used the genius of other individuals then kick them to the curb once they achieve their objective. What they did to Oppenheimer was appalling. They more or less did the same with Werner Von Braun at NASA during the space race.

[@gloverfox9135]

One thing the movie got right was when Robbert Oppenheimer said “It’s oppenheiming time!”

[@am81790]

I saw the atmosphere explosion as a running joke

[@colinernest3925]

That background next to iron man instead of struass making me laugh my ass off

[@geofff.3343]

Most of the nuking of Japan angst comes from historical revisionism to put us into rights with post-war Japan. Though Japan has never apologized for the atrocities it committed in mainland China. So in order to buddy-up to the US's new trade partner we created this false equivalency. Saying, "You did some horrible stuff, but oh we dropped two of the most destructive weapon ever, so we're all on equal blame here." The conundrum around the nuclear bomb wasn't was it right or wrong to drop it. It was the opening of a can of worms on such an efficiently destructive weapon that the US knew it couldn't keep out of adversarial hands forever.

[@Lowlandlord]

No, people during the war, including the General MacArthur who was in charge in the Pacific, did object to the bombs, at least in that context. He was more okay with it if it was against an army, or a mountain tunnel or something. Against the rules of warfare and all that. Truman overruled him though, and he had only found out about them after Roosevelt died. There is also some criticism of the American and British strategic bombing campaigns that would target factory workers as well as factories, or with the intent of setting large areas of a populated area on fire. British guy who started the thing was also in favour of dropping chemical weapons on Iraqis that didn't want to be in the British Empire, lovely chap, I'm sure.

[@UteSniper3663]

I have always wondered, what is the difference between fission and fusion?

[@ShogunOrta]

Didnt they say shortly in the film that Japan was on the verge of surrendering? Or the film implied that?

[@DeathMessenger1988]

Buddy... they were willing to make their entire nation either go full kamikaze or seppuku rather than surrender. That's how crazy Imperial Japan was.

[@jameslong7128]

According to Richard Brody, the movie-listings editor at The New Yorker who described the film "History Channel movie with fancy editing", "I was tempted to call it a movie-length Wikipedia article. But after a look online, I realized I was giving Wikipedia too little credit-or Christopher Nolan, the movie's writer and director, too much" Bingo

[@cedricjoshuapayne]

People shouldn't be confused about the heavy water scene, because they explain it right in the movie. As far as a nonlinear timeline goes, lots of films have done that in the past. I understood what was happening.

[@Havok0159]

Small pet peeve. You kept saying teacher when you should have been saying professor. The instructor in question was teaching in an university and would therefore be a professor, not a teacher as they teach up to and including high school.

[@MakerInMotion]

He takes issue with the portrayal of Strauss as a power hungry A-Hole in the film. Then in his explanation of how things really went down, Straus still sounds like a power hungry A-Hole.

[@darthdestoryah]

Even in the book, Strauss comes across as cartoonishly evil, specificity against Oppenheimer. The dude did not know how to let things go.

[@whiteeye9584]

why ? from historical perspective he was more paranoid than powerhungry moron

[@sernoddicusthegallant6986]

Yes but a slightly more nuanced power hungry a hole

[@Arthera0]

I loved the movie but the 1 thing that took me out of it for a bit was Oppenheimer's Dutch. I understood like 3 words even though I am Dutch. So they could have done better but if that is my only complaint shows how good the movie is.

[@benstanley5757]

While yes, lighting the atmosphere on fire was proven incorrect- Oppenheimer still had that fear

[@garrettharriman6333]

Darker things? Compared to a fission bomb, most things are.

[@videovoidtv]

Great video. But the timeline is easy. Color was oppenheimer in chronological order and BnW was Strauss in chronological order. Unlike Nolans Momento film. Where color is moving forward while BnW was moving backwards.

[@jamiekayn3847]

Would be interested in hearing about the war of 1812

[@somdedudeumet8170]

the movie is from oppenhiemers perseptive so it makes sense that the deeper context behind the fbi tailing him because he wouldn't know why just that he is

[@jensphiliphohmann1876]

About 19:30 Actually, the film depicts the relationship as kind of a Caine and Abel story where Einstein plays the role if YHWH, Strauss that of Caine and Oppenheimer is Abel. Caine (Strauss) feels his unapproved by YHWH (Einstein) and "kills" Abel (Oppenheimer) for being more approved...

[@tashacooper1753]

It was great I learned about it from the spy part of the project

[@elizabethmariediana6308]

When my family was watching Oppenheimer, my mom said that I and my brother (13 F, 11M) know more than most of the audience. (I’m a WW2 nerd)

[@danielmcdonald9737]

The thing that kinda bothers me about the movie is by how it downplays how many people were in the area during the nuclear testing. Residents were given a 24 hour evacuation notice, and are still dealing with the after effects.