श्रीभगवानुवाच कालोऽस्मि लोकक्षयकृत्प्रवृद्धो लोकान्समाहर्तुमिह प्रवृत्तः ।
ऋतेऽपि त्वां न भविष्यन्ति सर्वे येऽवस्थिताः प्रत्यनीकेषु योधाः ॥ ११-३२ ॥
Bhagawan said, I have become death and I am inclined to destroy.
Whether you chose to kill or not, your enemies shall die.
तस्मात्त्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व जित्वा शत्रून्भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम् ।
मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वमेव निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन् ॥ ११-३३ ॥
So get up, defeat your enemies, be victorious.
I have already killed your enemies; you are just the cause.
∞∞∞
Vishwaroop Darshan by Bhagwan Shri Krishna is the ultimate manifestation of the cosmic spectacle. The point of singularity, the big bang, the continuous expansion, up to the death of a star, the formation of black hole, the unrelenting gravity and the return to the state of singularity. Anaadi-Ananta (no beginning – no end), the cycle continues.
It is our hyper-inflated ego that makes us believe that our actions move heaven and earth. In reality our existence is but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things. At best we are a link in the chain of events and while we experience life, it is our duty to perform the function which we are designated to do.
∞∞∞
The reason J. Robert Oppenheimer found solace in the Gita is because he understood this essence. Those who assign extraordinary importance to their existence might take this as a justification of the violence, it is not. He was aware of the consequences and it is amply clear that the aftermath affected him deeply and haunted him for the rest of his life. However, he realized that it was his Dharma to go ahead with the development of the bomb and that is what he did.
Click on this link to watch him speak briefly about it;
https://www.atomicarchive.com/media/videos/oppenheimer.html
“We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought that one way or another.”
When Oppenheimer says, “I have become death” it means he has become the “cause” of death. I would like to believe that, he knew that his character and duty was similar to that of Arjuna, the cause, not Bhagawan Shri Krishna, for Krishna is Anaadi-Ananta. I have a feeling that many viewers interpret his expression as “being death”, including Mr. Christopher Nolan, the writer and director of the film Oppenheimer.
∞∞∞
For a film maker who prides himself in doing thorough research, for not being trapped into the temptations of technology, for someone who is known to break the rules, push the boundaries and bring innovation to the art of audio-visual entertainment, Oppenheimer is very easily Nolan’s laziest and worst work so far. The fact that he compromised and/or overlooked the obvious, that this subject far exceeds in material to be cramped into a 180min large screen format, in itself warns us about the mediocrity that it is bound to be.
A tennis match played over grueling five sets and stretching beyond five hours, when compressed into ten-fifteen minutes of highlights reel never does justice to the athletic miracles players perform on court. The sport isn’t just about the aces and the winners, it is also about the rallies, the faults and the frustration, and everything that happens in between. Those seemingly trivial moments are the one that stitch the event and provide it context.
Oppenheimer is bereft of those trivial (but crucial) in-between moments and hence never feels like a well stitched (forget seamless) saga. Instead, highlights package is how it feels, a series of aces and winners from a plethora of players walking in and out of the court (screen).
We see Robert visualizing sub-atomic particles and we are supposed to marvel at the display on screen without having an iota of understanding about the bubbles and bokeh that we see. One moment, we see him depressed and struggling with lab work and loneliness and a few moments later we see him being transformed into a swaggering scientist. We aren’t sufficiently introduced to him, so we neither sympathize with nor marvel at his genius.
We see him engaging with different people at different points, whether it is his passionate exchange with Jean or his sudden departure towards Kitty. We are not privy to the smaller facets of his psyche, so we never understand his attraction for either women, we do not understand his grief. Likewise, we are neither privy to Jean’s degrading mental state nor to Kitty’s domestic inability. As I said, we do not get to see the rallies, the leg work, so when an unforced error happens, we don’t understand why.
Because there is so much to accomplish in limited time, the story moves further to Los Alamos and finally there are some scenes of a bit of intensity. The muted effect, hailed as genius, I felt is a hit and miss. It will garner Mr. Nolan much critical acclaim but I am not sure if it will remain in public memory like some of his earlier work has.
Again, since there is a human story to be told, the second half invests itself in the pursuit of reasoning. Characters introduced earlier now take center stage and engage in deep debate about ideologies and credits. Since we have no love or hate for any of these characters we do not ‘root’ for any of them.
As saving grace, I found two scenes which stood out in a film that otherwise dragged to the limit of exhaustion. The one when the supreme commander accepts full ownership of the event and relegates Robert to the level of a pawn. Given our earlier discussion around Gita, there is much to think here for those with spiritual inclination. The second is when Robert feels stripped to the core during the interrogation. It takes unparalleled courage to stand naked, open for judgement. It needs immense mental clarity and resolve to endure such investigation and this visualization more than makes up for the rather predictable, long and boring verbal debates that we see otherwise.
This subject was tailor made for a web-series. There are many characters who deserve deeper and longer screen-time. It is important because all these characters obviously leave a mark on Oppenheimer’s psyche. Every character and their relationship adds a layer to his personality and eventually affect his thinking and choices. Without the gradual journey leading up to the point of destruction, it all feels hollow and synthetic.
Nolan’s reputation and global fan following is such that people will fill cinema halls and pay insane prices over the first weekend and possible over the first week to eagerly witness the extravagance they expect to be unleashed. Once the initial euphoria is done with, audience world over will realize they have been cheated.
What if we walk into a Michelin Star restaurant in Paris, expecting the MasterChef to delight us with food that fuses together different colors, textures, tastes, aromas and cultures, and instead we are served a hurriedly put together stew of leftover rice and vegetables and that too at a hefty price tag? That is how I felt having seen Oppenheimer. Does this mark the death of a star? Time will tell.
कालाय तस्मै नमः
∞∞∞
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