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absolutely one of our times' cinematic masterpiece—an immersive revisiting of historical accounts that will genuinely help the audience grasp the importance of santayana's most memorable quote. a film that will go down the line not just as an important piece of cinema but also as an essential retelling that will influence people's understanding and perspective of morality, ethics, and nationality for generations to come. (i deeply regret not seeing this in imax 70mm and that i am incapable of doing so, and i highly recommend people see it in that format if they can, for that it is the format this film was truly made for, and that the differences are vast and obvious on first notice on other formats.) nolan promotes this film as oppenheimer's story, and it indeed revolves around him rather than being a half-hearted bait or ploy to accentuate and exploit the renowned account of the creation of the atomic bomb; rather, it is a film that uses the famous story as a focal point and serves as a bridge leading us to understand our protagonist's transformation of moral and ethical views. the film takes us on a personal, emotional, and scary journey through the creation and the aftermath of the first nuclear weapon, not just on the world and the geopolitical landscape but also as a deterrent in oppenheimer's life, which we get to experience intimately through his lens. the film highlights clashes of political ideals, and nolan conveys the intricacies of both oppenheimer's and strauss' (aec) ideals on a superficial level well—a battle of morality and extreme patriotism, with each concept fearing the other's consequences. the film is a culmination of nolan's previous techniques and understanding of cinema, and i am baffled at how he has the mind to express something so artistically creative on a story so serious and so intensely human. tour de force performances everywhere, with murphy's brilliance apparent, but blunt's portrayal was up there as well. nolan also directs some of these important historical figures as if they are real people that we can easily dismiss with a passing glance. with the returning ludwig göransson, nolan was also able to provoke a sense of fear, anxiety, and intensity with music in key scenes easily. however, some complaints about the sound and dialogues' incomprehensibility have arisen, like tenet, possibly due to the film's format not being entirely compatible with lower-quality formats. like his movie the prestige, structured like a magic trick with its own pledge, turn, and prestige, nolan metaphorically structures oppenheimer's life in the film with its own introduction, creation, and aftermath, mirroring the development of the first atomic bomb. every element of this movie blends so well, building up to the grandiose moment of the film's conclusion—oppenheimer's line, doubling down on other scientists' concerns that this invention could possibly cause a chain reaction that will eventually destroy the world, he meant on a figurative sense. the ending might not be nolan's cleanest, but it is, without a doubt, his most thought-provoking one in context. in hindsight, we will see this as one of those films cinema was truly made for.