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Behold! We find the criticism of not showing the Japanese suffering to be rather wan. Because instead, he shows American citizens suffering in the exact same way. Which brings home the suffering in a way that won't work for people who "don't care" about the WWII-era Japanese.

We also were impressed by the subtle narrative gadget that plays out through the two timelines. "Fission" is specifically about the creation of the atomic bomb. Narratively, the story brings everyone together, there's a huge explosion and then they all split apart. "Fusion" is about the creation of the H-Bomb, which is a weapon where an atomic explosion pushes in on (otherwise stable) heavy hydrogen, causing it to fuse together, creating an even bigger explosion. Narratively, the story shows us how the very stable Strauss is confronted by atomic scientists providing explosive testimony, causing a catastrophic result.

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I think that the choice around how Nolan presented the suffering also made it more effective from a pure storytelling standpoint. Had he instead done a newsreel-style showing of it, it would have felt heavy-handed and frankly cheap. We’re an audience inured to gruesome and violent things. Choosing to instead visualize Oppenheimer’s visceral emotional reaction (in a very tight POV) to the reality of what had been done with the project was the kind of horror that gives a person nightmares.

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Good stuff. This sort of demand that art be moral/woke to a "T" ran hot in the late 2010s, but I think people are tired of it now. There's way more pushback and mockery of the silly, scoldy tweets than there was before. The vibe has shifted.

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Agree. Fingers crossed that the counter trend continues.

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Agree, yet an ironic counterpoint to all the cons complaining about the other half of Barbenheimer.

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Only fitting that Barbenheimer gave progressives something to complain about. And as I said about Barbie, back in my day if you didn't like a movie you just stayed home.

But honestly the story of Oppenheimer doesn't involve any Japanese individuals. I nevertheless felt the horror of unleashing the bombs on civilian populations, reflected well in Oppenheimer's attitudes.

I knew some of the history. I thought it was a truly great movie with fantastic performances. It provided more details of events in the '50's than I knew. And Teller, though very obstinate, wasn't quite Dr Strangelove.

Another great book whose subject overlaps considerably with Oppenheimer is The Making of the Atomic Bomb.

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