The absolute horror of Oppenheimer is cinched in Truman's short appearance for me. This idea he voices that none of the victims care who created the bomb, only who dropped it on them...
It's all too real. In the film it's a bitch slap.
Beyond it, for us, it's the inexorable conclusion that the bomb would have been created no matter what. The moment that first paper was published, every scientist understood the A bomb as a concept was a possibility. And once that concept was out in the open, it was only a matter of time before an aggressive enough country put the effort in to create it.
As the iconic Ambessa Medarda says it in Arcane, "Weapons cannot be unmade and they are always used". Truer words, etc.
If not Oppenheimer then the Soviets first (Nazis never stood a chance, since they were making life for their jewish scientists, well... You can guess how hard), or the Brits, who knows. And with no reason to drop it on Japan if it came after the end of WWII, god knows in what setting in might have been used. We can always speculate, but the depressing ending of this film was that someone had to do the work, and the people at Los Alamos did.
Someone had to be handed the baby, and Oppenheimer was.
And yet we don't blame him for that. We understand the inexorability of progress in science. Hey, we've all seen or read Jurassic Park, right? We blame the politicians who used it, because with the finished product it was their call.
That Truman scene almost had the feeling of a little mercy. Oppie saying he's afraid he has blood on his hands, and Truman shaming him in the same breath he whipes his hands of that metaphorical blood and reassures him it's all his--all while waving a handkerchief like he took him literally.
God Gary Oldman making me write essays with his 2min appearance.
ANYWAY. Yes, it's dark. The "I am become death, destroyer of worlds" line is iconic, but it was also a straw waiting to be drawn. The scientific world itself was gestating this monstrosity, and Oppie was the midwife. First willing, then reluctant. And my heart goes to him for that.
