Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” an unsettling look at the dawn of the atomic era, dominated the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, winning seven prizes, including best picture and best director. The film, which took on an added resonance at a time of international conflict, also scored Oscars for Cillian Murphy’s haunted lead performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr.’s supporting turn as a vengeful bureaucrat.
“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy noted in his acceptance speech.
And there were tangible reminders of that legacy, as well as of the global tumult that gave Nolan’s historical drama about the creation of the nuclear bomb its jolt of immediacy. Blocks away from the Oscars red carpet, several hundred protesters called for a ceasefire to Israel’s war in Gaza, while winners used their speeches to decry the humanitarian crisis in that region along with the one sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the heart of Hollywood snarled traffic around the Dolby Theatre, the venue where the show is held, resulting in a late start for the ceremony as A-listers scrambled to make it to their seats.
For Nolan, the honors came after a tangled history with the Oscars – he was nominated seven previous times, including for directing “Dunkirk,” as well as for his work on movies like “Memento” and “Inception.” But the Academy snubbed his biggest hit, “The Dark Knight” for best picture and director, an omission that provoked outrage and prompted the organization to increase the number of films nominated for best of the year from five to ten. Finally given an Oscar of his own, Nolan, who has been a passionate advocate for the big screen experience, paid tribute to the art form he loves.
(Excerpt) Read more and See a List of Winners in: Variety