For all its praise, the film furthers the dominant narrative of the bombs as a morally fraught but necessary project, with American anxieties playing a starring role.
Harvey Keitel as Charlie in Scorsese’s seminal Mean Streets.
TCD/ ProdDB / Alamy
From Mean Streets to The Exorcist and Badlands, 1973 was a year that showcased the audacious talent in Hollywood that was experimenting with darker themes and new film techniques.
Visitors at the Trinity Site National Monument in Socorro, N.M.
(Shutterstock)
The Christopher Nolan film ‘Oppenheimer’ is set to become a summer blockbuster. But one of the featured sites in the movie is a sobering reminder of the horror of nuclear war.
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Universal Pictures
As my seat shakes from the stereo effects, nobody in the nearly-full cinema flinches. The teenagers to my right are as used to explosions as J. Robert Oppenheimer himself.
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan’s production.
Universal Pictures