PeggyinCT wrote:Anne, I am not a movie critic and I don’t read reviews. If I think I can learn something from a movie I will go. I already knew a lot about Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project and I have been to Oak Ridge in Knoxville, Tennessee. I went to see what this director had to say and I’m glad I went. It cost me $8.00 and several hours of my time. What this movie taught me was the story about how Oppenheimer’s security clearance was later denied and he was never able to work on government research again. Questions about his loyalty were brought to the Atomic Commission by a vindictive man named
Lewis Strauss who thought he had been slighted by Oppenheimer years earlier. The story goes on. If you go to see the movie, let me know and I’ll give you a call and we can talk about it. Enjoy today. Peggy
Thank you so very much, Peggy. I, too, know something about Oppenheimer and the Manhatten project. As I stated on another thread, many years ago I visited the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. They had on display full-size replicas of both Fat Man and Little Boy. I found them fascinating. Horrifying, but fascinating just the same.
I definitely plan to see the movie. I am the kind a person who likes to know how things work, what makes people do what they do, and the why and the how of things happening. It is my own personal armor against the world.
I am a person who prefers to understand the implications of things, rather than to ignore them.
When I was a young girl, I was just old enough to grasp the terrible implications of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I was pretty much beside myself, often weeping and inconsolable about the situation, and could not understand why my family didn't immediately rush to build a bomb shelter in our backyard.
I was even old enough to realize that the "drop and cover" procedure that was suddenly being taught at school would be totally ineffective should the unthinkable happen - and the possibility of this unthinkable thing happening seemed only a blink away.
Finally my father, who seemed to me to be always distant, and never affectionate, took me aside. As I remember it, he put his arm around me and said: "If this doesn't happen, you will have had nothing to worry about. And, if it does happen, you still will have nothing to worry about".
At first I didn't understand what he meant, tried to argue with him, but he refused to elaborate further, just telling me to "think about what he had said".
I thought at the time that he was just being needlessly obfuscate and, yes, stupid. I realize now that he had his own terrible fears, but did not want to alarm his young daughter even further, only wishing to comfort her - without denying, or belittling, the then very distinct possibility of come what may.
It did not take too long for me to understand his meaning, once I took the time to ponder upon it.
I have carried his words with me to this day, as his statement can be applied to so many different situations in our lives.
Peggy, I likely will not see the film until it comes out on streaming. Several of the reviews have said that the dialogue is difficult to understand, often muffled by music and sound effects. At home I can have subtitles and headphones. My local theatre advertises subtitles and headphones, but when I have tried them there before both have been "out of order". I'll wait until I can see it at home.
I am quite looking forward to it.
I hope that we can speak together then!! I would love to discuss this movie.
Thank you so very much for the offer, Peggy. Very much appreciated!!
Anne