Historian and Nuclear Engineer REACT to "Oppenheimer" Trailer 

You are correct to prioritize as such!

I thought I was the only one😭

​@@ReelHistory The words you were looking for when the tower guy lines catch fire is known as a 'Rope Trick'

@@thomaslowery359, thanks!

Einstein is like the Stan Lee of scientist cameos, lol.

His project took a new step!!!

and that's Niels Bohr, a bit of an overlooked figure associated with the manhattan project

@@nielsdanielbuch9022 Judging by the accent and looks - these were the words of Hans Bethe

@@grzegorzach3891 Except it has been stated that Branagh will be playing Bohr

I’d say the Big Bang has you beat on most important

@@ldcow3948 I'd say that the Big Bang is prehistory. History is a recorded account given by people at the time.

Los Alamos here... Plus a few other associated places.

Jesus rose again there?

I lost my mom to Dementia in 2019, it is insidious. I am so sorry. They WERE High School kids! When she was in High School my mother served in the Civilian Coastal Defense as a plane spotter. I have her deck of playing cars that have the Allied and Axis silhouettes on them. They'll be with me on opening night. Bless your grandfather's heart, my dad fabulously reached San Francisco on August 3rd and was deferred out two weeks later. So we have the classic story of "How Pop Served In WW II And Missed The Entire Thing: And the Brave Battle of The Barracks Of San Francisco." He ended up being the City Mayor. I'm so very sorry for your loss, so strange what stayed, isn't it. When it was near the end I'd get calls from her caregiver asking me "What did she say?" because my parents both spoke fluent Spanish and somehow she would default to it and I was the family interpreter. I remember a day when she wasn't speaking, until I asked her in Spanish. I have no idea how she had held onto it, but she did. I'm so glad you became the keeper of your grandfather's history. And double glad he came home.

That's cuz they were. A lot of movies show guys who are on the older side, or even up to being middle-aged as soldiers, especially in older movies. A lot of the soldiers who fought in that war were between the ages of 18 and 25, and almost all of them were under the age of 30.

They went off overseas as kids, they came back men.

The making of atomic bomb was one the best books I have ever read in my life . As a finance guy , only Adam tooze wages of destruction trumps it .

I can't wait for this film. I'm particularly excited to see the Oppenheimer/Strauss conflict. I don't know much, but I know Strauss was pretty vindictive.

@@freebiehughes9615 : Richard Rhodes does a good job in discussing their relationship in "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb."

We have since had a bit more context on the RDJr scenes with the coming of the “Opening” Featurette on the Universal Pictures yt channel. That little conference was in 1949 when the USSR got their own first nuke. 😊

Indeed. My Grandfather was one of the last evacuated from Dunkirk and although he died long before the film the visions depicted matched what he always described.

@@ougal84Ironic that Nolan did make a mistake in the sense of making the beach so sparsely populated. If it were full of soldiers there’sld be a Word Of Mouth thing going on perhaps. 😅

I totally agree. That was a great series which I am rewatching now. The 1989 film Fat Man and Little Boy was a total disappointment for me. I had high hopes for Schultz as Oppie but I thought it was a failure. The 1980 BBC Oppenheimer remains as gripping as it was 40 years ago. I don't know why they put in the Einstein cameo in Nolan's film but I'm virtually certain Einstein never came to Los Alamos or had anything to do with the Manhattan Project (other than signing the letter that Szilard and Teller wrote and sending it to FDR). Nils Bohr came and went by the name "Nicholas Baker", but I don't think Einstein did. It occurs to me now that maybe the Einstein scene is in New Jersey? I couldn't actually tell that much about it from this brief trailer.

@Eldooodarino: According to Silvan S. Schweber in "Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius," while Oppenheimer and Einstein first met in 1932, they wouldn't really be in close contact with each other until 1947 when Oppenheimer became the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. As Oppenheimer looks quite a bit older in the scene with Einstein, I would say their meeting shown in the trailer took place in the 1950s, possibly around the time of Oppenheimer's security hearings in 1954.

I watched every minute of that BBC series and haven’t forgotten it to this day …it will be tough to top that one.

thanks for bringing this to my attention - Sam (Jay Gatsby) is wonderful actor

@@robertjulianoph.d.1423There is no way the little meetup scene is in Los Alamos anyway. Too much greenery and water.

We are!

@@ReelHistorypleaaaaase review it since it is out digitally now!

a great man who killed 100's thousands? i guess greatness really is in the eye of the beholder

@@ARCSTREAMS Well yes, those were different times and obviously different when we place ourselves in someone else's shoes, but as in war there are things we should not be proud of. Though I don't like what happened either, if something was not done to save American lives, our Allies, then who knows how long the war could have gone on. Maybe the Allies could have done this on an uninhabited island to show the Japanese what could happen. Back then the Allied powers were needing to an end to a world war. Maybe they could have done something different, though I am not sure what to be sure. What do you think should have been done? Difficult decision for them back then, very easy for people from today to go back and say to those from history that something should have been done differently. Maybe I could have used different words, and I am sorry if those troubled you,

@@patricklynch6771 well you bring up good points and like you said the times were different and perhaps im not a history expert on this one but i ask what really started this war with the japanese? because usa has a bad habit of starting wars or shoving there nose in other countries business right from what we lived through thats the exp we seen so that is one thing then i heard that the japs were about to fly the white flag but some of these warmongers wanted to test the bomb anyways , i think oppenheimer and his colleagues even suggested that the test at trinity alone would have been enough to deter them but someone made the decision to still bomb many ppl instead , in any case i would not call anyone who dropped that bomb and killed countless as a hero or a great man although i understand its interesting to meet a historical figure like that

WMG for me I thought that was Fermi.

I checked imdb, and Edward Teller is played by Benny Safdie, though the actor playing Fermi looks similar. Considering Christopher Nolen's attention to detail, my gut says it's a little joke for nerds like us.

@@fasillimerick7394 I was WMG because he had an Italian accent 😅

I guess I'm showing my age, but what does WMG mean? I can't tease it out from the limited context, and Google just offered Warner Music Group.

@@fasillimerick7394 It mean Wild Mass Guessing, the abbreviation is widely used as a category page on TVtropes.

There is a recent featurette where there is footage of him chatting with Oppenheimer with a mouthful of snacks and soft drinks.

Cheers!

that's awesome!

(1) Genuine prop goof; or (2) They were just practice models in-universe.

Or… (3) that this very well known history was changed by the director - possibly to show it being more “hands-on by lab coat scientists” instead of the reality that it looked more like working-class guys in an auto repair shop.

Well the mere EXISTENCE of Unit 731 has been known in Asia since 1945.

It was even a plot point in The Last Emperor (1987) where the communist war criminal prison warden debates with Puyi on why did he take in TOO MUCH guilt and gave confessions about things like the Harbin Bioweapons thing when he honestly didn’t have knowledge or power over it as “Emperor of Manchukuo”.

Thanks! Make sure to tune in when he travels up and joins us for the premiere

🤣🤣

The sad opposite is the miniseries "Manhattan," where it started out great, but fell apart about halfway through the series.

We haven't seen the miniseries yet.

May I ask what did they mostly do there?

@@davidw.2791 Starting in 1942, the U.S. government began quietly acquiring more than 60,000 acres in Eastern Tennessee for the Manhattan Project-the secret World War II program that developed the atomic bomb. The government needed land to build massive facilities to refine and develop nuclear materials for these new weapons, without attracting the attention of enemy spies. The result was a secret town named Oak Ridge that housed tens of thousands of workers and their families. The entire town and facility were fenced in, with armed guards posted at all entries. Workers were sworn to secrecy and only informed of the specific tasks they needed to perform. Most were unaware of the exact nature of their final product until the nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945.

It does seem like a missed opportunity. Then again, perhaps they didn't want to capitalize off of it.

@@ReelHistory Good point. I suppose that would be a bit insensitive.

wasn't the trinity test on July 16th? I mean the movie is releasing July 20th so it is a bit off from the date

@@PrabhablyAGoodRU-vidr That's right cheeky. I'm guessing that had something to do with the date. There are several different releases a movie has, either premiers, world premiers, and screenings. I'm guessing one of those will coincide with the Trinity test.

@@PrabhablyAGoodRU-vidrThe 16th is a Sunday so maybe not goot for a pirmiere date.

Indeed, good stuff!

@@ReelHistory ... I've been subbed to you both for about the same time, both of you have good content.

Cheers!

@@ReelHistoryHear! Hear!

Thank you for sharing part of your story.

Terrible thing to live with seek counseling

Always asked my grandfather what the cause of the grizzly wound in his back. On his deathbed, finally, he confessed to killing a Japanese, kempetai officer. But he said that if wasn't for the war, they'll be a lifelong friend. We are Indonesian.

@@nurlindafsihotang49 my Grandfather also fought the Japanese in our home country of the Philippines. He even befriended a captured Japanese soldier too but once he learned his older brother was killed in a nearby Japanese assault, driven by anger and rage over the death of his brother, my grandfather claimed to have shot and killed the very Japanese teen he befriended days before. I asked him what he thought of this and he replied “I acted purely in the emotional distress at the death of my brother, I knew killing him would not bring my brother back but war gives men reasons to be cruel to one another….I have sinned and I will surely pay for it after death” Respect to your grandfather for serving to protect his people and family from harm. War is horrible, but there is humanity in it as well.

Best Actress -- Emily Blunt Best Supporting Actress -- Florence Pugh Best Supporting Actor -- Robert Downey, Jr.

Scorsese and Wes Anderson have films coming out this year so we will see

We plan on it! Probably October or November.

Nolan did true teasers for the likes of The Dark Knight but I think the two-minute one for Oppenheimer is just First Trailer.

The irony is the Schultz didn't have a problem with the atomic bombs while Newman did. Frankly, I agree with Schultz.

The movie is an overlooked gem.

irony that Irish and British actors play Americans in this film; Killian, Emily Blount, and others

No. It should be talk about. So people think twice to making wars.

I have had Jared as a professor, and I think he would do a very good job with this

That would be a fun one!

By invading “Manchukuo” it shows Japan they can kiss any pipe dream of a “government-in-exile” bye bye.

Thank you for agreeing with and then restating everything we said......and then insulting our intelligence.

I thought about putting a "f your couch" meme in, out of respect, I decided not to. Lol

@@ReelHistory that would have been amazing

This has been debated over the past forty years. We now know Japan's government was divided between the 'War Party' led by Admiral Kantaro Suzuki and the 'Peace Party' led by Shigenori Togo. The militarists pushed to maintain the war on the assumption that the Soviet Union would remain neutral, continuing its five year neutrality treaty with Imperial Japan. The Japanese government did not realise Stalin had agreed at the Tehran conference to enter the war on Japan within three months of Germany's surrender. Three months: 8 August 1945. Japan had written to Molotov and Stalin, suggesting the USA would be the Soviet Union's great enemy in the future and it was in its interest to maintain Japan's 'international position'. Japan wrote this after a memo to the Emperor on June 6 warning that by the end of the year Japan's ability to wage modern war would be extinguished and the government would be unable to contain civil unrest. This was a consequence of the collapse of Japan's occupation of the Philippines, the US invasion of Okinawa and the Marianas Islands and the destruction of Japan's army in Okinawa. On June 22, the Emperor is reported to have stated "I desire that concrete plans to end the war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts made to implement them." Frank, Richard B. (1999). Downfall: the End of the Imperial Japanese Empire. New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-100146-3. To this day, it is not known just how much the US leadership knew of this: it is probable Truman's position at the Potsdam conference (16 July - 2 August), that the atomic bomb(s) was needed to bring Japan to surrender was genuine. The USAAF had already destroyed the Japanese air force: on 16-17 February 1945: carrier-based aircraft, including dive bombers, escorted by Hellcat fighters attacked Tokyo. Over two days, over 1,500 American planes and hundreds of Japanese planes were in the air. "By the end of 17 February, more than five hundred Japanese planes, both on the ground and in the air, had been lost, and Japan's aircraft works had been badly hit. The Americans lost eighty planes." All the Japanese had left were bamboo canes: US soldiers had already seen civilian mass suicides on Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the US Army and Navy knew any land invasion would be a bloodbath amongst the Japanese population. Meanwhile, Japan's leadership outside the War Party understood Japan faced catastrophe. The Tokyo firebombing on 9-10 March 1945, for example, killed far more people and destroyed a much greater area of the city than Hiroshima. That was one city of 68 firebombed by the US in 1945. Russia's entry into the war on August 9 (same day as the atomic bombing of Nagasaki) did two things: it decided the Japanese government's choice to surrender and it forced the US to consider whether Stalin would demand the Soviet Union occupy the Japanese Home Islands. The War Party had ordered silence (黙殺, lit. "killing with silence") to Potsdam Declaration that Japan must surrender unconditionally. The War Minister Anami told Cabinet on 9 August a tortured US pilot stated the US had 100 atomic bombs ready to use against Japan. During this meeting, news came through of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The participants at the meeting recalled the Emperor saying: I have given serious thought to the situation prevailing at home and abroad and have concluded that continuing the war can only mean destruction for the nation and prolongation of bloodshed and cruelty in the world. I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer. ... I was told by those advocating a continuation of hostilities that by June new divisions would be in place in fortified positions [at Kujūkuri Beach, east of Tokyo] ready for the invader when he sought to land. It is now August and the fortifications still have not been completed. ... There are those who say the key to national survival lies in a decisive battle in the homeland. The experiences of the past, however, show that there has always been a discrepancy between plans and performance. I do not believe that the discrepancy in the case of Kujūkuri can be rectified. Since this is also the shape of things, how can we repel the invaders? [He then made some specific reference to the increased destructiveness of the atomic bomb.] It goes without saying that it is unbearable for me to see the brave and loyal fighting men of Japan disarmed. It is equally unbearable that others who have rendered me devoted service should now be punished as instigators of the war. Nevertheless, the time has come to bear the unbearable. ... I swallow my tears and give my sanction to the proposal to accept the Allied proclamation on the basis outlined by [Tōgō,] the Foreign Minister. The Emperor knew continuation of the war would destroy Japan, whether by firebombing or by atomic bombs. He also knew the Russians were sweeping through Manchuria and would continue through Korea and then invade the Japanese Home Islands in a matter of weeks. It seems, in the end, a case of 'not only, but also'. Japan was shaken by the threat of terrible new weapons adding to the catastrophic destruction of industry and population from conventional bombs. Japan's Cabinet, including the Emperor, knew Russia's entry into the war ended any hope of ending the war on Japan's terms. Hence, after an abortive attempt to kidnap the Emperor by rogue army officers on 12 August, Japan surrendered on August 14. A summary of the situation in Japan leading to the dropping of the atomic bombs can be found in Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan#CITEREFFrank1999 See also: Toland, John (2003). The Rising Sun: the Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire. New York: Random House. p. 806. ISBN 0-8129-6858-1.

Japan was defeated but didn’t know how to surrender. They were actually defeated on Dec7, 1941 but still went through the motions and only surrendered when their country was almost totally annihilated. The dropping of the atomic bombs was totally preventable and the blame lies 100% with the Japanese government in 1945.

I mean it could have been Multitasking.

That is a fair assumption!

Reminds me of what I typically say: it's not totally realistic but it is totally authentic.

@@dawngrrrlVerisimilitude.

It was that “we didn’t mind EVEN IF we have to die 100 million” (their entire population btw) it was part of their “Jade Break (100% Casualties) So Honourable” propaganda.

And yeah. Good luck finding a Chinese person who sympathizes for the Nuke Victims over the fact that Japan wouldn’t surrender sooner. Case in point: Mao Zedong did a subtle “Nuclear bombs are not THAT powerful and fearful” propaganda thing because by 1946 it was politically expedient to downplay USA as a Paper Tiger, *but* he never ever expressed “Why kill Japanese civilians UwU”.

The biggest “evil” of the Hiroshima and Nakasaki nukes was that they killed hundreds of thousands while suffering exactly 0 American casualties. No chance of the Japanese shooting down a bomber or two to alleviate their damage.

He’s there to sell on joining Project Manhattan. Whether or not some other scientists were also working on, say, time travel, is irrelevant to his sales pitch.

There was a slight disagreement over the couch