How Oppenheimer embraces America's Prometheus - Olivia Huang

Image source: IANS

“Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a

rock and tortured for eternity”

The words appear on screen, black font somehow made darker by the crimson sun burning in the background. The deafening sound of cackling fire squeezes your heart, pierces your eardrums, staggers your breath. You feel as if you yourself are Prometheus, as if you yourself are J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Christopher Nolan’s long anticipated film, Oppenheimer, released in theaters on July 21, 2023. Immediately pitted against the Barbie movie, it took the world by storm through its epic cinematography and star studded performances. The hyper realistic resolution of the IMAX 65 mm film transfers viewers into the eyes of Oppenheimer himself, displaying his visceral inner strife, how his debilitating guilt eventually led himself to self destruction.

Oppenheimer was inspired by the biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer. The book likens Oppenheimer to Prometheus, a character of Greek mythology best known for defying the Olympian gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, knowledge, etc. Because he gave humans such power- the power to destroy themselves- he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity. It doesn’t take a genius to see why Oppenheimer was dubbed America’s Prometheus, and the film makes it its first priority to magnify the grueling reality of Oppenheimer’s eternal torture.

Despite being renowned as one of the most intelligent men in the world, the film subverts this superhero status and instead centers itself around his humanity. He isn’t glorified in a way that coaxes the audience to venerate him, put on a pedestal to elicit feelings of pride and admiration. It is a film about an ordinary person, a broken person, a person the audience can relate to. Can we relate to creating a nuclear weapon and decimating two entire cities? No. Can we relate to being a quantum physics genius who learned Dutch in six days just to give a lecture? No. But what we all can relate to is emotion. We can relate to heartbreak. We can relate to regret. We can relate to guilt. That is what this movie builds itself on. We view the world straight through Oppenheimer’s eyes; we experience his turmoil, his wavering morals, his contentious decisions, his unrelenting remorse. We become him. We physically feel his guilt gnawing at us from the inside as he slowly deteriorates into a shallow husk of a human being. Nolan breaks the emotional disconnect historical figures often fall victim to- these figures are often characterized only by their historical contributions rather than who they were as human beings. But Nolan humanizes Oppenheimer, not to be revered, but rather to highlight exactly why he shouldn’t be revered.

Oppenheimer’s relatability isn’t used to absolve him from responsibility over his actions- its purpose is the exact opposite. As we become Oppenheimer, we feel the toll of his guilt, the sheer mental destruction caused by his decision to create a nuclear weapon, his decision to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people. After stepping into his shoes, we have now experienced first handedly why he felt such debilitating guilt. Only then are we able to understand the sheer gravity of his creation, and why his guilt was never unwarranted.

While many understand the harrowing repercussions of nuclear warfare, there are some who are still oblivious and continue to downplay its potential consequences. After being immersed in a character’s tumultuous state of being for three hours, one simply cannot ignore it anymore. Oppenheimer is a warning call, a red flag, a scream to alert everyone about what’s at stake. It is a movie that harnesses a man’s guilt and injects it into every single viewer, sending a dire message about the invention that gives us the power to destroy the entire world. Just think about that ending scene, the premonitions of our earth burning up in flames- the deafening sound of cackling fire squeezes your heart, pierces your eardrums, staggers your breath. If we now understand the sheer gravity of Oppenheimer’s creation, yet still refuse to take action, we all are bound to the fate of Prometheus.