this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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It could have been way worse. Although it feels like their portrayal of Oppenheimer's involvement with the Party consists of...well...coming to house parties, drinking wine, and hitting up women, while more serious stuff was purely mentioned indirectly through dialogue. I feel like they could have balanced more aspects of his life a bit by showing, not just telling (that he sent money to Spain, what he thinks about revolution), his affair with Communist ideas through discussions of theory or ongoing politics.
Overall, it was pretty surface level, but it did highlight how ridiculous the anti-Communist sentiment was at that time (albeit in a slightly weird way), without embracing that sentiment---while the Party was portrayed as seemingly useless (drinking, dining, having sex in a dimly lit bourgeoisie house), the accusations Oppenheimer received seem way more serious than his involvement. I'm sure the audience can feel the injustice and futility at the part where Oppenheimer and Co. tried to fight their way out after the Soviet espionage card was played by the stern men in suit.
Liberal/10, but I nevertheless enjoyed it. 3 hours went past quickly. I feel there was enough wiggle room to form your own opinions on the matter.
I was curious if he was actually more friendly to communism than portrayed or not. It did seem like he was sympathetic to the cause, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he downplayed it after going through all those interrogations.
I don’t know enough about the CPUSA at the time, but I’d imagine they did more than drink and dance. I did like the way they portrayed the hiding of knowledge as problematic, and that sharing discoveries is how innovation really happens, not markets monopolising patents
I think that it's very likely that the other producers or whoever backed the film may have influenced just how prominent the pro communist message could be. Also, at the time you had to be pretty secretive about your affiliations so it felt like part of that was to add to how people might talk about it in potentially mixed company.
I understand that the film crew has its own bias—it's art, not documentary. I was just giving my 0.02 on what I would do if I were able to modify it.
I was thinking more on the line of a low-key discussion between him and his close friends, not to his suspecting colleagues.
Oh I see, I agree. I think it definitely could have been more exciting; I found the parts where it really focused on his personal life to be really boring and sloppy and that could've really added to it