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A review of OPPENHEIMER By Eric Mann

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy have made one of the most important revolutionary films of our time

Aired Tuesday July 25, 2023 | 8am on KPFK Pacifica 90.7fm

The story of “the father of the Atom Bomb” who came to see its destruction, fought for nuclear disarmament, and was red-baited and crushed by U.S. imperialisms’, post-war, pro-Nazi, anti-communist crusade

Eric Mann’s reads a draft of his future Counterpunch Article

Selection from Eric Mann’s reading of his review

Oppenheimer is a breakthrough in film’s role to rescue the heroic history of the communists and anti-fascists during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, and to expose the two party anti-communist frenzy that marks U.S. politics today. It is one of the finest political films I have seen—up there with the Battle of Algiers, Reds, The Spook Who Sat By the Door, and all of our other 5 or ten favorites. It is the story of a brilliant nuclear physicist, Robert Oppenheimer, who was close to the Communist Party, worked for the veterans of Spanish Civil War (code for the Communist Party) worked to organize a union of scientists, and was most known as “the father of the atomic bomb. In the last great scene of so many in the film, Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein are talking. Oppenheimer, only recently canonized by U.S. imperialism, is now being red-baited and villainized for opposing the nuclear project he began,  Einstein advises him, “They will punish you, then time will pass, and then when they no longer fear you they will bring you back, give you a medal, but remember, they are doing it for themselves, not you.” Oppenheimer, tells Einstein, “When I first talked to you about the Atom Bomb, I told you the worst possible outcome was that it would start a chain reaction that could blow up the world.” By that he meant that the single bomb was so powerful, like the Meteor, that it could literally trigger a series of explosions that could ignite oxygen in the air. Now, looking at the arms race and U.S. imperialisms’ lead in it, Oppenheimer observes, “I was wrong about the immediate consequences, but now, the escalations of nuclear capacity are in danger of blowing up the world. What have we done?” The civilized nature of Oppenheimer and the Barbarian Democratic Party genocidal mind of Harry Truman, is reflected in the scene where, shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Truman brings Oppenheimer into this office to congratulate him. Oppenheimer that the greatest achievement of the bomb would be to create a nuclear disarmament movement where all nations agree not to build it and use it. Truman, who knowingly kept the plan to drop the Atom Bomb  on Japan from Stalin at Potsdam, and did so not to end the war with Japan but start it with the Soviet Union says, “No, this is the start of a whole new expansion of our weapons to take over the world” and as Oppenheimer leaves Truman says, “Don’t ever bring that crybaby into my office again.”

The Perfect Trilogy

Eric Mann sings Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect.”

Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé sing “Perfect”

Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli sing “Perfect”

Our First Short Tribute to Michele Prichard

Organizer, leader, group builder at Liberty Hill Foundation

Channing and Eric discuss their feelings about the moving going away party for Michele

Edited and produced by Channing Martinez

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