‘Oppenheimer’: Who is who in this movie and atomic history?

Living as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’, as is so often described by German-born Jewish physicist Julius Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and leading the Manhattan Project, must not be easy. Some of the dramatic material of Christopher Nolan’s film is based on guilt, a tragic accusation so well articulated by Irish actor Cillian Murphy; a definitive argument about fire, guilt and witch hunts in this “biopic”.

Matt Damon / Leslie Groves

The American government must have placed great trust in Leslie Groves (1896-1970) as he was tasked with overseeing the construction of the Pentagon and was the commander of the Manhattan project. Being a civil engineer and a lieutenant general in the army, he was able to do both. In his first collaboration with Nolan, he is played by Matt Damon, who can show the character’s indecision, affection, and rejection towards Oppenheimer. It was brought to life by Paul Newman in ‘Shadow Makers’ on the same theme.

Emily Blunt/Kitty Oppenheimer

Her maiden name was Katherine Puening. She later became known as Kitty Oppenheimer. Born in Germany (1910) and died in Panama (1972), he was a botanist and biologist, something that wasn’t talked about much in this movie, and was a member of the American Communist Party. She married Oppenheimer in 1940. The excellent Emily Blunt (“Sicario”, “A Quiet Place”) brings a special dynamism to a somewhat odd figure in her relationship with Oppenheimer and her contradictions in shifting to the left.

Robert Downey Jr. / Lewis Strauss

Actor Robert Downey Jr., who can star in a Charles Chaplin ‘biopic’ and become the Iron Man of the Marvel cinematographic universe, presents one of his finest compositions in recent years as Lewis Strauss (1896-1974), a Jewish banker, naval officer, philanthropist and co-founder of the Atomic Energy Council at the beginning of the Cold War. He eventually became Oppenheimer’s political enemy. The film takes on the allusions of a vengeful villain as the story progresses.

Tom Conti/Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein has a small role in the film, but the two or three short scenes where he exchanges inaudible words with Oppenheimer that are almost synonymous with the rosebud in ‘Citizen Kane’ are crucial. Einstein (1879-1955), also of German and Jewish descent, had sincere disagreements with Oppenheimer on the subject of atomic energy. Einstein is embodied by the unrecognized Tom Conti, Officer Lawrence from ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983).