TO END ALL WAR: OPPENHEIMER & THE ATOMIC BOMB
US, 2023, 87 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Christopher Cassel
This Documentary, made by NBC television, was released at the same time as Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer. As might be expected, they are complementary. And, response to the two films indicates that there is an audience who prefers documentary rather than dramatisation while the majority of audiences prefer for the dramatisation.
Needless to say, both films have their values in looking at the character of J.Robert Oppenheimer and his presiding over the Manhattan Project. Those who watch the documentary first may well be interested to look at how it has been dramatised with the skills of Christopher Nolan. On the other hand, as with this reviewer, Oppenheimer was seen first and this documentary serves as something the equivalent of a discussion after the film, raising different points of view, raising a great deal of factual material, discussion of the issues, about World War II, the building of the bomb, German desire to build the bomb, the moral issues, the role of President Truman and the war with Japan, this documentary showing sequences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with some of the survivors.
In Oppenheimer, there is a pursuit of the scientist by the anti-Communist movements post-World War II, fostered by the fact that Oppenheimer spoke out about the limits of nuclear weapons. And, while both films feature his crises and dilemmas, there is always the question of how he saw the creation of the bomb, the dropping of the bomb and the consequences, moral issues.
While the film has value in itself, a comparatively brief running time, just under half the running time of Oppenheimer, it can better be appreciated by watching it in connection with Christopher Nolan’s film. It can be noted that Christopher Nolan himself appears half a dozen times throughout the documentary making comments about Oppenheimer himself, the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer’s own conscience and consciousness concerning the bomb.
