As readers of this column know, I am not much of a “Hollywood guy.” I think, in general, Hollywood produces what will sell and substance comes secondary.

Thus, it was, after seeing the recent movie “Oppenheimer,” that I came out of the theater with a positive feeling–even though I had to sit through about 3 hours to see the whole thing.

In most aspects, the film is true to the history of the period…at least as I have studied and read about it over the years. The development of the atomic bomb over a short period of about 4 years during World War II is one of the engineering and scientific marvels of the twentieth century. The actual use of it to end World War II is probably the most controversial action in history taken during that same century.

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the leading scientist on what was called the “Manhattan Project,” comes across as a conflicted figure, as were many of the scientists who worked on the project. They knew of the awfulness of the weapon they were developing, yet many of them, especially those who were Jewish, were motivated by the hate policies of Nazi Germany where millions of Jews and others were being sent to their deaths. There was also a pervading fear that Hitler would develop the atomic bomb before America and its allies could do so.

One scene in the film is especially poignant. After the bomb has been successfully tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico, Oppenheimer participates in a rally of sorts with workers and scientists there celebrating the successful detonation. Patriotic speeches are made, America flags are everywhere and there is a celebration of the event.

Yet, when Oppenheimer leaves the building and goes outside to return to his home, one of his colleagues, a nuclear physicist, is vomiting into the grass outside. That man realizes what is in the offing for the people of Japan…there will be incredible fire and destruction coming from the sky.

There was one aspect related to the science of the project I had not known of, and that was a fear–though remote–that a nuclear explosion could be continuous and destroy the whole world. One had never been tested before. In a powerful moment, Oppenheimer visits Albert Einstein to seek his advice. Einstein looks at a formula which says that the chance is nearly zero, but not absolutely zero, that such a catastrophe could happen. Einstein is non-committal, deferring, it seems, to the axiom that nothing in science is absolutely certain.

Of course, nothing would be truly “Hollywood” without human drama. This part of the film is focused primarily on a jealous superior to Oppenheimer who feels slighted that Oppenheimer, and not he, is credited with the success of making the bomb.

Near the end of the film, Oppenheimer, after the bombs have been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the war has ended, visits President Harry Truman in the White House. Dr. Oppenheimer has become obsessed with the thousands of civilians who were killed and confesses to Truman that he has “blood on his hands.”

Truman responds, as only Truman would have: “Dr. Oppenheimer, you have no blood on your hands. I do. You built this device. I was the one who decided to use it and believe I did the right thing to end the war.”

I side with President Truman…but the controversy over the use of the atomic bomb will never end. You should see the movie.

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.