The Myopic Nature of ‘Oppenheimer’ Is the Whole Point

Of course Christopher Nolan wasn't going to make a “bombs are good” movie. What he did achieve is far more sinister.

Nolan is the kind of director whose “politics” fans and critics alike enjoy attempting to dissect. As he’s kept his real-world political leanings mysterious, it’s up to his art to offer any possible clues. Those who like picking these things apart quickly latched onto his Batman trilogy as a possible reactionary conservative wonderland, and those readings are certainly there if you look for them, though it’s impossible to tell if they're there intentionally. But there's a much simpler overarching theme to Nolan’s work that people miss when they try to insert political feelings that may or may not actually be there: Christopher Nolan makes movies about miserable men.

There are many tactics Nolan uses to make his men miserable. Maybe they’re amnesiacs afflicted with short-term memory loss. Maybe they’re twins who have to keep their twinship a secret for the sake of their magic show. Maybe they accepted a mission to the depths of space that will launch them light-years away from their family. Maybe they can’t tell anymore if they’re living in the real world, or in a dream. Maybe they’re a guy who calls himself “the Batman.” Maybe they don’t understand time travel. Maybe they’re fighting a war. Maybe their wife is dead.

Read more at The Daily Beast.