After seeing Christopher Nolan’s biographical epic, Oppenheimer, many may be craving more content about the physicist who created the atomic bomb, and luckily, Universal has the perfect follow-up documentary for all your Oppenheimer needs. Oppenheimer, released in July 2023, follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the Manhattan Project which created the first ever atomic bomb. While the movie succeeds at covering a great portion of Oppenheimer’s life, from his college years to his activism post-World War II, there is now a documentary that gives a much fuller account of the scientist’s life, and with a significantly shorter runtime too.
Although Oppenheimer delves into many vital parts of the true story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, there are definitely some missing pieces along the way. This is likely because the movie is centered on Oppenheimer’s time at Los Alamos and his political activism in the intervening years, rather than his life as a whole. In this way, Oppenheimer offers nothing in terms of the scientist’s childhood or his family, aside from his brother Frank. Furthermore, the film does not really touch on his death or the years after he had his security clearance stripped as a result of Oppenheimer’s 1954 AEC hearing. Luckily though, this new Oppenheimer documentary fills in those blanks.
2023’s To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb Documentary Is On Peacock
For those seeking a fuller picture of the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb is a great documentary on the subject. The film, which is distributed by Universal, gives a brief look at the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer. According to the synopsis, the documentary explores, “How one man’s invention of the atomic bomb changed the nature of war forever, led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed mass hysteria.” So, while this film offers many of the same events as Oppenheimer, it does so in a broader, nonfiction format.
To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb is an amazing companion to Oppenheimer because of two big connections. First, both movies are distributed by Universal, which likely makes them much more consistent to each other as opposed to them being made by separate companies. Furthermore, the documentary includes commentary from Christopher Nolan. Although the Oppenheimer director is not behind the documentary itself, which is directed by Christopher Cassel, he still appears as an interviewee, speaking about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer. In this way, the two films are strongly connected.
The Oppenheimer Documentary Explains His Life Better Than Nolan’s Movie
Ultimately, To End all War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb is much more successful at depicting the scope of Oppenheimer’s life. This is not at all a knock against Oppenheimer, because the two projects have vastly different goals, however, for those wanting a more factual and straightforward look at Oppenheimer’s life, the documentary is a better choice. And once again, the documentary is a great companion to Oppenheimer, as it fills in the gaps that Nolan’s film leaves. In this way, it could be best to watch the two together to get the full J. Robert Oppenheimer experience.
