The internet has been debating an apparent blunder in director Christopher Nolan’s new box office smash Oppenheimer.
The flick, which cost $100m to make, opened nationwide in UK cinemas last Friday and stars Cillian Murphy as J Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist often referred to as the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”.
The three-hour epic, which also stars Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt, is told across three timelines, with scenes of Oppenheimer’s early life and work on the A-bomb interwoven with scenes set during his 1954 security hearing, and the US Senate confirmation hearing of Lewis Strauss (Downey Jr) in 1959.
The scene, which has caused a buzz online, comes after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki when Oppenheimer is called upon to deliver a speech to a cheering crowd, many of whom are waving US flags.
It was good and all, but I’ll be that guy and complain they used 50-star flags in a scene set in 1945. pic.twitter.com/nvcwpGFkzh
— Andy Craig (@AndrewRCraig) July 21, 2023
“It was good and all, but I’ll be that guy and complain they used 50-star flags in a scene set in 1945,” wrote one person on Twitter alongside a still of the scene in question.
Period-accurate flags were used elsewhere in the film, such as the moment Oppenheimer stands beneath the 48-star flag at Trinity base camp.
Some countered that the mistake could have been deliberate and was intended to subtly convey the titular character’s subjective recollections.
“Personally i think it was done intentionally,” they explained, “because coloured scenes were from Oppenheimer’s perspective which is his present day’s memory that was after the 50-star flag was established.”
