Don’t forget the first victims when you go see Oppenheimer this opening weekend. Unforgivable not to include them in the narrative.

We love us some Nolan and Cillian but this is also a story that should never have taken place.

For further reading:

This is what happens when the US government goes nuclear-crazy during the Cold War and mines a shit ton of uranium. Lambs born with three legs and no eyes, and human stillbirths and agonizing deformities for those that survive. For decades it was referred to as a Navajo-specific hereditary illness. No one made the link to the mines and the drinking water.

I taught a class last year that discussed narratives of history. In short: how can history be told, in which mediums, and what does that medium intend? One week was devoted to film as way to tell history.

I stood in front of my students (one even gave a truly lovely independently researched presentation on the topic) and discussed the various implications of using film as a historical training device.

Are films real? Is the message real? Can you learn history from it? If so, what do you learn? What is left out?

There are no good, bad, right, or wrong answers when it comes to history and film. Everything is a perspective. But what is important is what is encouraged by the film.

Films often distort reality because it can only show a snapshot of a perceived point in time. Everything is manufactured: it is not real. The script is an imagined conversation, the setting is manufactured and chosen to convey emotions. Everything is pre-determined based on hundreds of biases by all those involved.

And the end product does something. Some people will watch a film and go: that's history exactly as it was. Some will say: no that didn't happen like that! Some will ask what about all the other people that didn't make it onto the film? The lover, the brother, the whole country of victims, or the whole slough of families affected but never seen.

Film making is an act of story telling, at the end of the day. It tells one story, and portrays one message. For 2-3hrs, a message is shown to the audience. It is manufactured reality, and it can often be entertaining. But it is a message. And a film is not history so much as: inspiration.

Oppenheimer is a film that explores the life of Oppenheimer and the various political mechanisms around him. It does not discuss the fallout of the individuals from America - it barely mentions the individuals in Hiroshima/Nagasaki! It is three hours, and it shows one thing.

Oppenheimer cannot fully encapsulate every aspect of the tragedy of the fallout: it can only show an actor portraying a character portraying grief and despair and horror.

But what Oppenheimer can do, is encourage people to look up the events themselves.

To read newspaper articles, such as the above. To read books such as those in this collected bibliography: https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/books/hiroshima-nagasaki.html By individuals impacted by the bomb.

And, movies such as Oppenheimer draw attention to new research attempts and progress, like that discussed here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/science/trinity-nuclear-test-atomic-bomb-oppenheimer.html Where conclusive data is finally being amassed to show the actual geographic impact of the bomb and who precisely was affected by it.

Oppenheimer, the movie, cannot cover everything. And it is still a fictional representation of history. But it can encourage more learning, and more attention.

I'm not saying the frustration over "Why are we talking about Oppenheimer and not...!" is not warranted. It is! Be frustrated! But also, even if it is not a perfect film: good is coming from it as a whole world of movie goers are now being introduced to something many of them may not know much about in the first place.

It is, like any first encounter with a historical event: a stepping stone. And it is through this stepping stone that more books, research studies, personal stories, and - hopefully - movies can emerge.

Please remember in your critiques of Oppenheimer in terms of: what was missing - to do as OP did and share a piece that is missing. Use Oppenheimer as a starting point to your historical journey. And I hope more people do learn about everything else that those three hours simply couldn't contain.