MOVIE REVIEW Oppenheimer

This biopic film, brought to life by the enigmatic and creative Christopher Nolan, speaks to the darkness of nuclear weaponry and J Robert Oppenheimer, ‘the father of the atomic bomb’.

The film illuminates Oppenheimer’s tumultuous life, prior to him creating the two atomic bombs that catastrophically devasted the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War, and afterwards, faced with the consequences of his own creation.

Manoeuvring through his youth, audiences see Oppenheimer’s growth from being a student in Europe, to him as a professor in California, till his recruitment onto the Manhattan Project, the top-secret US project to build nuclear weaponry in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Compelled through two different storylines, before the explosion that destroyed Hiroshima, and the 1950s court battle, where Oppenheimer’s political motivations were questioned, the audience is constantly bombarded with information, fantastic cinematography, and

WHAT'S ON

August

3 Fitter For Life Over 50’s at Bowen PCYC (Tues & Thurs)

3-6 Cruise Whitsundays’ Great Barrier Reef Festival

4 Self Publishing Basics Workshop, Cannonvale Library (registrations required)

5-6 No Hard Feelings screening at the PEC

6-7 Indiana Jones – Dial of Destiny screening at the PEC

7 Kinder Gym at Bowen PCYC (every Mon & Wed)

8 Fitter For Life Over 50’s at Bowen PCYC (Tues & Thurs)

10-17 Airlie Beach Race Week

10 Fitter For Life Over 50’s at Bowen PCYC (Tues & Thurs) intimate playacting.

Oppenheimer was praised as the hero of the Second World War by the Americans, for protecting their American democracy, which, in turn quelled his political motivations, once seeing the absolute destruction of the bombs.

This political pacifism is the fuel to the fire of these court hearings.

The court hearings are the titular settings of the film, where, in the 1950s, Oppenheimer is arguably the most famous American scientist, but he is being questioned as a security risk, harbouring communist ideals, which will lead to the downfall of the American way of life.

He is namely opposing Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commissioner, who has secretly been working to bring Oppenheimer down.

Always discussing the consequences of actions, this film leaves no stone unturned, no detail missed.

Oppenheimer is ultimately stripped of his security clearances as a member of the Atomic Energy Commission’s General Advisory Council, effectively bringing his career to an end.

One of the film’s concluding scenes portray Oppenheimer speaking with Albert Einstein, discussing whether or not he created a chain reaction that would ultimately destroy the entire universe.

Oppenheimer is showing in the Bowen Cinema from Friday August 11, and at Proserpine Entertainment Centre from August 18.

11 Scone Day from 9.30am, QCWA Hall

11-13 Barbie screening at the PEC

14 Kinder Gym at Bowen PCYC (every Mon & Wed)

16 Sailability Whitsundays from 9am at Whitsunday Sailing Club

17 Zonta meeting at VMR

18-20 Barbie screening at the PEC

18-20 Oppenheimer screening at the PEC

19 Ben Bolt Cup Race Day, Bowen Races from 11am (entry fee)

26 Grigoryan Brothers performing at the PEC

27-28 Meg 2: The Trench screening at the PEC

Movie

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (M)

Indiana Jones finds himself in a new era. Approaching retirement, Indy wrestles with fitting into a world that seems to have outgrown him. But as the tentacles of an all-too-familiar evil return in the form of an old rival, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artifact doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

No Hard Feelings (MA 15+)

Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) thinks she’s found the answer to her financial troubles when she discovers an intriguing job listing: wealthy helicopter parents looking for someone to “date” their introverted 19-year-old son, Percy, and bring him out of his shell before he leaves for college. But awkward Percy proves to be more of a challenge than she expected.

Barbie (PG)

To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”) comes “Barbie,” starring Oscarnominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

Oppenheimer (MA15+)

27-28 Oppenheimer screening at the PEC

31 – 4 Whitsunday Songwriter Festival at Yangaro Resort

September

1-2 Strays screening at the PEC

3 Soweto Gospel Choir performing at the PEC

9-10 Strays screening at the PEC

9-20 Gran Turismo screening at the PEC (various dates)

15 Alphabet of Awesome Science performing at the PEC

16-27 Cats In The Music screening at the PEC