I was overwhelmed by the cinematic experience of Oppenheimer and I couldn't help but notice the parallels of the dawn of the atomic age to our current world. Climate change, rise of AI, inequality etc. Take your pick. Was this film a subtle call to action by Christopher Nolan or just an artistic by-product to the existential threat of climate change? I am a big Christopher Nolan fan. Oppenheimer was his best work for me. Mature, well edited, meticulously arranged. If I was another filmmaker and I saw this film, I would put my hands up in the air and quit the industry. How can you compete with that? Nolan gushing over, lets get to the point. The parallels to our current were so clear, I was surprised I only found one article online that stated the same. Dropping the nuclear bomb, as argued in the film, was viewed as necessity for people to witness the horrific power of a nuclear weapon. Scientific theories are not enough to sway individuals. It's been proven time and time again. Statistics and facts do not sway people towards corrective action. And by people, I don't just mean mortal individuals like you and me, I mean people that run industries and corporations that shape our policies and support the system that we all live in. There were other allusions like the political games played at the expense of other people, scientific progress being funded and used by military or more aptly by corporations in our age, the unnecessary song and dance of bureaucracy and politics when we are dealing with a real threat and one man's realization at the power and destruction of the machine that he created. In the end, the loot and dump of the earth may not be as quick as a bomb, but it is certainly leading us to a wasteland.
The atomic bomb is what shaped our current ways of living, saved us from annihilating ourselves with the threat of complete and utter destruction. I would argue that its creation made us very comfortable, chasing extrinsic rewards as we lead mundane lives. The atomic bomb gave us somewhat of a peaceful existence that allowed us to grow our economies at the expense of the planet. We've withstood the test of quantum physics to face a different threat of slow destruction. Will we withstand the cataclysmic erosion of our planet as it uses its climate to fight against the degradation we imposed on it?
In the end, it is a story of one man's convictions and ideas. I do believe it is a tale to inspire everyone one of us to do what is best for the entire human race, not just what is best for yourself and your country in a short term.
