The jostle around any Christopher Nolan film in all social circles is not new. As a movie watcher and a follower of Nolan's work since his first film, I was also equally keen to watch and understand the film - "Oppenheimer".
I watched it and did it very sincerely again and again, frame by frame, text by text before writing this narrative. While watching the film again and again, frame by frame all the instagram announced claims of "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie" as two structural breaks in popular mainstream Hollywood film was also at the back of my mind.
However, the more I repeatedly watched the frames of Oppenheimer, those social media noises about the technical excellence, cultural and structural breaks brought in by the two films were toned down. I started watching the frames of - "Oppenheimer" largely as a frame without knowing that it was being made by Christopher Nolan. The names which were all in the illustrious credits of the film also went to a backburner. As slowly and steadily with repeated watching of the film, when the names and texts went towards a sober silence, objectivity of watching the frames of "Oppenheimer" arose.
The frames of the film cinematically have been touted as one of the best ever due to the following ten reasons (amongst many more) by critics and they are - a) Stellar Performances (which is true), b) Thought Provoking Plot (which is true), c) Mushroom Cloud Like Drama with a grand scale character study (i have my doubts behind it), d) the tension, aesthetic and intricate, delicate structure, grand scale, remarkable sound design, visually stunning cinematography (which is true), e) a bold attempt to have zero CGI in modern cinema (which is again true), f) Powerful Story Telling and Impactful Emotional Moments (they are marked by conformation bias and cognitive dissonance), g) Stellar Reviews (which is true but partially as reviews are marked by biases which are psychologically natural), h) philosophical themes on the dark side of technology, nature of war and responsibility of science and scientists towards society (cognitive dissonance comes the most over here), i) Shooting through IMAX 70 mm Camera (which is true), j) A Spartan Approach of Film Making (which is true). Out of these ten reasons, the set of disturbing questions arise from the reasons - b), c), f), g) and h).
To me after repeatedly watching the film, the reasons b, c, f, g, h are the areas which raise disturbing questions about the objectivity in the film. They do raise thoughts but as we know thoughts of humans are natural to be fraught by cognitive biases and cognitive dissonance. It is over here, let me explain simplistically what do I mean by cognitive bias and cognitive dissonance. Cognitive bias is a systematic process of human brain when we simplify information through instinctive emotional experience and preferences and the brain prioritizes and processes large amounts of information quickly often resulting in irrational emotional, impulsive, amygdale responses. The filtering process can act like a coping mechanism in us. Conformation Bias can arise due to - a) Limits to Mind's Attention, b) Individual Motivation, c) Mental Shortcuts like Heuristics, d) Social Conditioning and Pressures. Often therefore this conformation bias can lead to a Cognitive Dissonance where an individual behaviour doesnot align with values or beliefs. It is a common psychological phenomenon which happens to all of us and I am sure it has happened with the lovers, praisers, haters, indifferent, independent viewers of the film - "Oppenheimer".
But if for a moment, we imagine that the audience who has been mostly human (and not any half human and half robot or an AI or a Machinoid or a Robot with a Human Implanted Memory Chip or the Other Way Round), then naturally the reasons, b,c,f,g,h cannot be ignored. In the next few sections, I will further elaborate on this.
Oppenheimer raises a thought provoking plot but the question is - "It is whose Plot and How the Plot is Potrayed? Isn't the Plot which is written or created by a human being for the movie not full of Conformation Bias and Cognitive Dissonance?" - A thorough look on each frame repeatedly makes it quite clear, that inspite of all the other reasons of the excellence of this cinema (intentionally used the word cinema and not film), it is finally a story and a plot which is largely told through "Oppenheimer's Eyes" and Nolan had put the text behind those eyes.
Hence, if it is told through "Oppenheimer's Eyes", then it has to be a subjective interpretation of a larger disturbing thought of the scale of impact the war made, consequences of Oppenheimer's action, his deceit, his love, his cognitive dissonances as a human being across generation and on the world order. Therefore, if it has this limitation of making the story seen through one human being's eye then it cannot be a mushrooming scale drama of the character. The character by itself is self limiting. It is self limiting in the process of story telling as the character's perspective is ruling the frames. In a way therefore, the power of the story and the emotional impact of the story are also self limiting in itself even though it has been touted as the strength of the film. It is because then the power of the story and its emotional impact is a result of the conformational bias and cognitive dissonance of the character - "Oppenheimer" himself.
Then, how can the character capture the grand scale of the interplay of the war between ethics, morality and immorality in its full and half circle. Since, the film gets trapped in this character itself, the frames therefore also cannot escape this vicious cycle even though all the excellence of the cinema and the film are equally true. Moreover, the story is not a simple story. It is like an epic of War with deep philosophical and disastrous impact on the wellbeing of generations, nations. Therefore, in such a context if the Character of the film gets trapped in this vicious cycle of Cognitive Biases and Cognitive Dissonances driven by the same two facets of the creators of the film, the impact of it is much more on the society in an insidious way without the society knowing it. This will be more true as all the ten excellence points of the film are equally true and therefore the cinema can very surreptitiously play with the dissonances and cognitive biases of a society which generally stays half moral, half ethical in all contexts. It is natural to stay like that as a society and it is not a disease but a psychological phenomenon of the society.
Therefore, as Brandon Shimoda, a Japanese American Poet, who is a writer and professor of Hiroshima Library has rightly said - "Audience of Oppenheimer belongs to this society and they will have differing perceptions about it based on their identity". Even without reading Brandon Shimoda, but by just reading Narayan Sanyal's "Bishashghatak", one can clearly say that the story of "Oppenheimer" is half spoken like a half circle through a half moral and half ethics. The loop of the circle is not closed. In a sensitive geopolitical situation of today and in the post truth context of narratives this is a little disturbing and dangerous as the impacts of the half morality of a powerful story telling with a brilliance of cinematic pleasure can be damaging for a society in a post humanistic sense when the world can move towards societal apocalypse and dystopias.
It is over here, going beyond the ten points and reasons of the brilliance of the cinematic excellence of Oppenheimer and a debate of proving one self that - "I am for Oppenheimer Movie or I am not for Oppenheimer Movie" in all social media platforms, it is important to understand why these different perspectives of Us and Them are arising around a movie which has ten reasons of being the best popular cinema ever made.
Someone, like Late Sunil Gangopadhyay needs to come back and do a thorough travel and interview based book like - "Itihasher Shopnobhongo" in the context of "Oppenheimer Movie". In Itihasher Shopnobhongo, Late Sunil Gangopadhyay extensively travelled across the countries of Europe after the Berlin Wall Destruction and explored why people from different parts of Europe are standing for Socialism to Market Economy to a Democracy from different historical and evolutionary perspectives of their identities. A time has come to carry out a detailed study of interviewing the wider audience of "Oppenheimer" to understand the disturbing thoughts and narratives of - "Why People Are Liking or Disliking or Are Indifferent To The Movie - "Oppenheimer"".
The sooner or later it is done, the better it will be amidst the rising geopolitical tensions and war of post truth narratives between the multipolarities of power centers of the World Order!!
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