Oppenheimer
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Actor: Christopher Muncke, Edward Hardwicke, Jana Shelden, John Carson, Sam WaterstonBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 420 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-23
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Worldwide
Product features:
- Sam Waterston stars in this BAFTA award-winning seven-part serial drama that delves into the enigma that was J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist often referred to as "the father of the atomic bomb." This gripping dramatization explores at length the extraordinary complexity of the scientist's thinking and the dilemma he faced. Within years he was declared a security risk by the American
DVD Reviews of Oppenheimer
DVD Review: Oppenheimer WBGH/BBC
Summary: 5 Stars
2004 marked the Centennial of Oppenheimer's birth. The release of this title on DVD is long overdue, and will provide a complement to the recent publication of the first 3 full length biographies of Oppenheimer, by a spectrum of recognized authorities in the field
J Robert Oppenheimer: A Life by the physicist Abraham Pais, who has previously done books on Einstein and Bohr,
J Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century by the historian of science David Cassidy who has done a biography of Werner Heisenberg,
American Prometheus by 2 prominent historians of the Bomb and the Cold War, Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird.
The science writer Jeremy Bernstein has a new book, Oppenheimer, Portrait of an Enigma, which was a previously unpublished, extended magazine profile.
The Cold War historian Gregg Herken has also contributed a volume on the Brotherhood of the Bomb( Oppenheimer, Lawrence and Teller).
Lastly, the papers presented at the Oppenheimer Centennial Conference held at UC Berkeley in May of 2004 have been collected and published, as have several more recent analyses of the Oppenheimer security hearing(by Richard Polenberg and Priscilla MacMillan,respectively.
A play, In the Matter of J Robert Oppenheimer( also the title of the actual published transcripts of the security hearing) based upon the hearings, originally performed in the 1960's, is being revived off Broadway this year.
With all of the aforementioned renewed interest in this brilliant, complex, and controversial scientist, who ushered in the atomic age, and later became one its most important philosophers, we now have a long awaited DVD issue of this dramatic series, based upon the book( or perhaps vice versa) of Peter Goodchild: J Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds. This was a joint production of the BBC/WGBH ( fitting, as was the Manhattan Project a joint American/British effort ), starring Sam Waterston as JRO. Although the script took some liberties with dialogue, it was for the most part accurate, both historically, and, insofar as was possible, in that it was dealing with a subject based upon still classified material, scientifically. It alludes to a large FBI file on Oppenheimer, which I believe was becoming more available at the time of production, and an invaluable source for historians.
The 7 episodes follow Oppenheimer from his Berkeley days to Los Alamos where the bomb was built and tested, to Princeton and Washington,where he held court after the War, as the director of the Institute of Advanced Studies( where he was Einstein's boss)and a consultant to the AEC as the nation's premier advisor on atomic energy, through the beginning of his exile following the stripping of his security clearance. The drama is especially good on both the deliberations of the Interim Committee, which discussed the possible uses of the bomb once it was to be finished, as well as the Security Hearing which led to the stripping of Oppenheimer's clearance. Notable performances are given by both Sam Waterston, as Oppenheimer, and Manning Redwood as Groves. David Suchet is also memorable as Edward Teller.
I trust that Amazon will be dying for you all to run out and buy the books mentioned above, as well a other videos associated with this topic:
The Day After Trinity: a documentary history of Oppenheimer and the Bomb
Hiroshima: Why the Bomb was Dropped an ABC News Documentary very well done by Peter Jennings
Lifting the Fog: The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
These feature the contributions of prominent historians/biographers such as John Dower, Gar Alperovitz, Samuel Walker,William Lanouette, and perhaps the world's foremost historian on the Atomic Bomb, Barton Bernstein of Stanford, who's lectures were a model of precision, clarity,nuance, comprehensiveness,and expertise, which captivated me during my senior year in college, and still do to this day.
There is also a forthcoming documentary from the BBC. Hiroshima
Hiroshima: a 3 hour dramatic film which is Japanese production focusing on both the historical events as well as the American and Japanese deliberations from the death of Roosevelt to the Japanese surrender in the wake of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Day One: a TV movie based upon the book of the same name by Peter Wyden. It begins with Leo Szilard taking the last train out of Berlin and shortly thereafter conceiving the idea of nuclear fission/chain reaction while watching light signals change as he crosses a London street, and ends with Oppenheimer addressing his colleagues about the necessity of post war control of atomic energy, and the dangers of nuclear proliferation. This is currently unavailable, but I can recommend it as worthy of being issued. Particularly good for the reactions of Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy and Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower to the bombings, even though these later writings or interviews are moved into the context of the immediate aftermath of the bombings.
I would recommend these outstanding sources of information and commentary especially in the wake of the shameful episode involving the cancellation of the proposed Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian in 1995. What was intended to be a thoughtful exploration of the questions, issues, and events concerning the end of the war and the atomic bombings of Japan, which degenerated into a one sided, grotesque shouting match directed at the historical advisory committee to the exhibit, by the Air Force Association, a lobbying group which purported to represent the sensibilities of WWII veterans who they claimed thought the exhibit to be disrespectful to the memory of their service. One can make up one's own mind on this question by reading the proposed scripts of the exhibit( which the AFA demanded be suppressed), as well as a history of the controversy written by it's curator in the following:
An Exhibit Denied by Martin Harwitt
Judgement at the Smithsonian by Philip Nobile (including a comprehensive analysis of the affair by the aforementioned Barton Bernstein)
Mark Borowsky, M.D.
Description of Oppenheimer
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