The atomic bomb has such a rich role in film history, we’re kind of surprised it doesn’t have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yet.
This week’s opening of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” adds one more compelling chapter to the tradition. And what a compelling and extensive tradition it is. By our count, nearly 150 feature films, documentaries and series have been made that address nuclear weapons or atomic power either directly or metaphorically, and many more that use the weapon as a plot device.
And there’s no mystery as to why. Few devices or developments in science offer such a fertile mix of intrigue, wonderment and abject terror. The idea that splitting an atom — the tiny, basic compound of all matter — can trigger the end of all life as we know it can, and should, keep us all up at night.
