Oppenheimer : You cannot forget about forgetting

“Don’t prove anyone convicted, just attempt to deny them because conviction gives the status of martyrdom and denial simply rejection.”

          These lines are from the film ‘Oppenheimer’, not exactly, only inspired by the statement of Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a member of US Energy Commission, when J Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist,  became a campaigner against the use of atomic bombs after the success of Project Manhattan, US government’s secret research project that produced the first atomic bomb and also famed Oppenheimer as the father of atomic bomb. 

Me at a cinema hall in Delhi to watch the film Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan, Saturday, July 22, 2023.

Backgrounder -

J Robert Oppenheimer’s lines “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” was proved when United Stated detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed more than 2 lakh people, most of whom were civilians. Although the bombings ended the 6-year-long World War-2, but also left its footprint that is still visible in the cities of Japan.

Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers, a group that was formed to nullify the aggression of the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) by the Great Britain, United States and Soviet Union. Italy also surrendered. Germany was too defeated with the fall of Berlin but laid bare a drama in the arena of ideological conflict, called Cold War, and bifurcated Germany into two: East and West controlled by eastern communist and western democratic regime. And, many claim that it all happened due to the invention of nuclear weapons because both regimes had potential to develop more warheads and there was no fear. 

According to ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) website, there are more than 13000 nuclear weapons in the current arsenal in the world. Each warhead has potential to destruct any area. ICAN explains these as the most inhumane and indiscriminate weapons ever created.

Oppenheimer : Creation of Christopher Nolan 

       The most recurring theme of the Nolan’s film is the ‘concept of time’ and ‘sound’. ‘Time’ plays an important role in his films whatever their plot are! It has been witnessed in his films Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Prestige, and now Oppenheimer. ‘Sound’ is the 2nd crucial factor of his films, that rises from lower beats to higher beats and culminates with the end of a scene. These factors including the style of story telling, dialogues, scene creation, VFX utilisation and post-modernism trend that hallucinate the watchers and make their films blockbuster and successful at the office. 

Poster of the film Oppenheimer at a cinema hall in Delhi, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (Pic by R. Suresh Bhardwaj)

        It is said about Nolan that he is assumed as a postmodernist. Visual style in his films focuses on urban settings, men in western-style suits and modern architecture. He uses a perfect combination of light, music, western social hierarchy and the geometrical pattern.

        These all portrayal also reflect in his latest film Oppenheimer which is billed as a biopic of J Robert Oppenheimer, the ‘father of the atomic bomb’. It is a sharp, dense and complex piece that weaves together romantic hookup, courtroom drama, laboratory experiment and lecture hall exposure. Its casts Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt has performed well as per the scenes for a better cinematographic display. 

        Perhaps more than all of this, Oppenheimer id an ultimate movie. But, it talks less about the campaign run by the creator of atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, a man who captivated by the boundless possibilities of science, realising too late that his creation has a limitless capacity for destruction. His idea of creating the atomic bomb spread to other countries which raced to increase their arsenal. In many opinions, atomic warheads apparently decrease the frequency of wars between the world powers because each party was in fear to be devastated. Realist theorists appreciate these idea whereas the idealists oppose this idea of ‘nuclear deterrence’. Russia, erstwhile U.S.S.R., fought an ideological war against the West by getting psychological power from nuclear bombs.

A scene from Oppenheimer, captured by R. Suresh Bhardwaj while watching the film at a cinema hall, in Delhi, Saturday, July 32, 2023.

        The film also narrates the sequence of courtroom drama how a physicist is sidelined over the debate on nuclear non-proliferation. As Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a member of US Energy Commission, states that we are not going to convict him (Oppenheimer), we simply deny him. And, he is made accused of being a member of communist party. Then, Socialists are assumed as a greater threat than fascists in USA, as per the film. After trials, he lost his courtroom battle that resulted in the revocation of his security clearance. 

        A legend physicist who made USA a powerful nation, was now sidelined from the government due to his campaign against the weapon of mass destruction. 

Star - 4.5 out of 5.

Mood -🥰🥰

My Diary: When reality hits

         Almost two months had passed and I had written nothing on my blog. It was disastrous. 

        This is the first one, ending the procrastination of the last sixty days.

Dried Trees Owe Their Separate Enchantress. (Pic - by R. Suresh Bhardwaj. At Safdarganj tomb on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2023.)

       It was the beginning of a dead sign. It was sign of losing the inventiveness. It was an apathetic situation towards writing. It is said if one lacks interest in writing, one loses one’s creativity, personification and visualisation. 

       And, it happened with me due to the prevailing procrastination that totally detached me from writing because of not reading creative writing due to the unruly management of hours. 

       The reason behind this improper management, I find, was the same procrastination caused by a job that created a repeating circle which has been killing my vision. Although it gives me a way to live, but it also snatches many things from me. It imposes limitations on me even after I follow its nature that also ties my legs to go straight and compels to circumambulate. It has no end, it starts again and again with the end of its first rap that accelerates the unduly phase of procrastination. It, actually, is not fault of job, the fault is the un-management of time. 

       So, it does not matter in which organisation you work, it matters how you spend your 8 hours out of those 16 hours excluding the sleep hour in a day. It is not extravagant to say that a job shapes one’s life. Hence, it becomes need of the hour to develop the instinct to go hand-in-hand with any work profile because any stuff at work place is able to hamper anyone. It should be managed, specially in context of time, i.e. time management. It is the first reality: Unable to be disciplined leads to the willingness to quit the job but the circumstance in which we live does not allow us to quit. So, be disciplined and do things systematically. 

        At this point, a long surviving idealism ends. Realism starts raising its head. It also starts guiding people to get over others. Sometimes, it is done by justifiable means and some other times by unjustifiable means. When it is not justifiable, even after we do it, we face another reality. Encountering it, many of us go with the second one and get benefitted from unethical and unanswered actions. We should not forget that by this way, we can earn money, not respect. So we ought always to prefer the first one i.e. justifiable means because it not only makes a better way and approach to live but also enhances the admiration to its optimality. 

        The third one is little different. It starts when apparently young blood has been running in our body. We keep running for hours, days, and year after years for a particular dream. After some time, we realise that it was the wrong track which was being used to run. When we know the fact, our young blood gets maturity and starts turning to be old. Then, we change our track and we find that we are miles back from others who have already started their race years ago. It is worrisome in many cases for us. But, it does not mean that one who has started their race earlier will always win the race because History has been witnessing that the taken time to reach at ten after starting the race from zero has been different for everyone because there is no equal playing ground.  

       In my case, it holds a contrasting view. Don’t worry, I am not going to tell the tales of that except saying I have passed many springs of my life in solitude in a wish of a dreamy career. But, as of now the time has become over. And, in this case, I always remember Piyush Mishra’s poetry, the bread have overlapped the moon (dream). 

“इक बगल में चाँद होगा, इक बगल में रोटियाँ
इक बगल में नींद होगी, इक बगल में लोरियाँ
हम चाँद पे रोटी की चादर डाल कर सो जाएँगे
और नींद से कह देंगे लोरी कल सुनाने आएँगे”

       Satirically, someone says to me when I was planning to go to ‘Vipassana’, a meditation camp guided by Buddhist principles, that “one had to go to ‘Lbsnaa’, the training centre for candidates who have passed the UPSC’s civil services exam, but one is going to ‘Vipassana’. 

       

        I laughed on his taunt remembering I am ‘Aquarius’. Because, Aquarius is different and he is bound not to give up. He fights till end like the Kunwar Narayan’s poetry. 

दुर्गम वनों और ऊँचे पर्वतों को जीतते हुए 

जब तुम अंतिम ऊँचाई को भी जीत लोगे— 

जब तुम्हें लगेगा कि कोई अंतर नहीं बचा अब 

तुममें और उन पत्थरों की कठोरता में 

जिन्हें तुमने जीता है— 

जब तुम अपने मस्तक पर बर्फ़ का पहला तूफ़ान झेलोगे 

और काँपोगे नहीं— 

तब तुम पाओगे कि कोई फ़र्क़ नहीं 

सब कुछ जीत लेने में 

और अंत तक हिम्मत न हारने में।

(Having conquered the inaccessible woods and high mountains, when we'd vanquish even the pinnacle, and believe that there is no difference at all in us and in the hardness of conquered stones.

When we encounter the first snowstorm on our head and will not quiver, then we'll realise that there's no contrast between in winning the all and in not giving up until we reach.)

mood - 🥰🥰🥰