If you saw Christopher Nolan's superlative new movie 'Oppenheimer' and wanted to discover additional details filling-in the historical backstory of Oppenheimer's Life & Times, David Grubin's insightful Documentary, first broadcast as part of the PBS 'American Experience' series, reflects more than a bit of luminosity on the personal & political challenges encountered by one of the most otherworldly-brilliant...... but perplexingly-enigmatic & intensely complicated scientists in history = J. Robert Oppenheimer who shepherded cutting-edge quantum physics knowledge directly toward our American shores (to Caltech and Berkeley) brought directly from the intellectual centers of 1920s Europe (e.g. Gottingen University studying under Max Born).... then organized & keenly guided all scientific aspects of the Manhattan Project thru completion in 1945.
David Grubin's superb documentary represents a valuable companion piece to the fantastic biography "American Prometheus" (by Kai Bird, and Martin J. Sherwin). This documentary also brings Oppenheimer to uncanny 'Life' via actor David Strathairn's* incredibly realistic portrayal, during the re-enactment sequences from security clearance hearings circa, spring 1954.
Oppenheimer's story is crucially important not only due to the technologically unprecedented scientific achievements (harnessing Atomic energy, ending any possible continuation of WWII ).....
but also because it raises numerous moral dilemmas faced by humanity, especially people like Oppenheimer who had been blessed (or cursed) with the fateful knowledge of unlocking Earth-shattering forces.... Grubin's documentary painfully illustrates how even Oppenheimer's prodigiously brilliant mind was unable to reconcile or resolve the insurmountable obstacles lining the pathway toward convincing government Leaders to adequately control and wisely harness nuclear energy's full Peace-time potential (of course, there was no way to coax the atomic 'genie' back into the bottle after 1945). Unfortunately these profound moral dilemmas and potentially devastating nuclear threats still loom dishearteningly Large in our geopolitical present Day, making Oppenheimer's Story and lingering worries critically relevant with many lessons still to be learned.
*interesting note: David Strathairn already portrayed Oppenheimer much earlier, in the excellent historical TV movie (originally broadcast on CBS, in 1989), called 'Day One' a great docudrama primarily about the 'Manhattan Project' which also provides great background information and prominently features Oppenheimer, General Groves, Enrico Fermi, Leo Szilard, Einstein, President Truman and many more = a fine television film but very hard to find a copy these days, thankfully Amazon stll has the DVD available... and also quite fortunately David Grubin's American Experience Documentary: 'The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer' is readily available on both Streaming and DVD!
