While the movie portrays several real-life events from Oppenheimer's life, it also takes some creative liberties for dramatic effect:
Here's a comparison of reel vs real:
- Oppenheimer did try to poison his tutor, Patrick Blackett, during his time at Cambridge. However, the movie invents a scene where Niels Bohr nearly eats the poisoned apple.
- Oppenheimer did deliver a lecture in Dutch in Leiden, Holland, but the movie compresses the timeline for dramatic purposes.
- The Oppenheimers did have Haakon Chevalier raise their son, Peter, for a brief period, but the movie links it to Kitty's drinking, which is fictionalized.
- The movie simplifies the discussion around Germany's atomic bomb efforts, but it is generally accurate in stating that Germany was not close to building a bomb during World War II.
- The film dramatizes Oppenheimer's mocking of Lewis Strauss about isotopes but captures the essence of the event.
- Oppenheimer did estimate that 20,000 people would die from an atomic bomb, but the movie takes creative liberties in presenting it.
- The depiction of the thunderstorm delaying the Trinity Test is accurate, as is Richard Feynman watching the test from behind a windshield.
- Oppenheimer never publicly expressed regret for dropping the bomb, but he did have remorse about the arms race.
- The film accurately portrays Oppenheimer's diverse interests and his contribution to theoretical physics at UC Berkeley.
- Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder did publish a significant paper on "heavy stars" collapsing, which influenced Roger Penrose's later work on black holes.
- The silence after the Trinity Test explosion depicted in the film is true to real-life accounts.
- The movie simplifies the reactions to the atomic bomb's use and decision-making process, but the basic historical context remains accurate.
- The portrayal of Henry Stimson sparing Kyoto due to his honeymoon is fictionalized; the decision was more complex.
- The movie presents Oppenheimer as the sole voice concerned about the long-term implications of nuclear weapons, but many others shared these concerns.
- Oppenheimer consulted Edward Teller about H-bomb concerns, not Einstein.
- Oppenheimer's stance on the H-bomb did change, and he eventually supported its development.
- The film inaccurately portrays Charlotte Serber as Oppenheimer's secretary; she was a librarian at Los Alamos.
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