Oppenheimer- A story of intense emotions and how Atomic Bomb destroyed the life of its creator!

The recent Hollywood release has created quite a stir and marked itself as a cautionary tale ever told, as it lead to a discussion point among audience after watching the flick. All credit to Christopher Nolan’s vision and amazing effort to each detail. With a complex screenplay and extra-ordinary performances from great actors ,the film managed to stand out in every which way. Apparently few of the scenes were practically executed in Panama’s house in Los Alamo, Princeton…For example, Atomic bomb explosion trails , and the whole innovation sequence .

How the Atomic bomb invention destroyed the life of its creator Oppenheimer? A sense of guilt , and events of prosecution followed later as he was suspected of being a communist spy, when he opposed the innovation of hydrogen bomb. Innovating another weapon which is thousand times more destructive than Atomic Bomb scared Oppenheimer. He felt it was unnecessary and immoral fearing its use against civilians.

J. Robert Oppenheimer: “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” — YouTube

And the much hyped sequence of using Bhagavad Gita context during a love making scene in the film is in co-relation with the point that Oppenheimer studied philosophy extensively and he once quoted from the Hindu scripture“ Now ,Iam become death ,the destroyer of worlds”. But why the context of it has been used during a love making scene is only known to Christopher Nolan, may be to make a splash among Indian community and garner their attention for the benefit of movie economy in India.

Few unknown facts of Oppenheimer ,which were not featured in the movie.

1. He was a man of many talents. He spoke 8 languages, wrote poetry.
2. He was a man of conviction. He learned Dutch in just 6 weeks to give a lecture while on a visit to Netherlands.
3. He also studied Philosophy ,Greek and French literature.
4. He enrolled at Harvard a year late as he suffered from Colitis, but he made up for it by graduating in three years instead of four.
5. He was depressed & emotionally unstable ,due to the stress of grad work .He even confessed to lacing an apple with harmful chemicals to poison his tutor with whom he didn’t get along. Fortunately, Patrick Blackett (tutor) did not eat the apple!
6. Even though he expressed guilt initially for his creation, a decade later he confessed “ I carry no weight on my conscience. Our work has changed the conditions in which men live, but the use made of these changes is the problem of governments not scientists”.
7. In 1965 ,Oppenheimer was diagnosed of Throat cancer, he has been a chain smoker all his life. The New York Times once described him “ as thin as the wisps from his chain smoked cigarettes or pipes”.
8. On February 18th ,1967 he died at his home in Princeton .He was 62 years old.