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(More customer reviews)The recent release of the 1976 Adams Chronicles on DVD left only the release of Oppenheimer to complete the bifecta of the two finest dramatic miniseries ever broadcast on PBS. This seven part series was originally filmed in 1980 as a joint BBC and WGBH (Boston) production and was shown over seven consecutive weeks beginning May 11, 1982 as part of the PBS program American Playhouse. It depicts 15 years in the turbulent life of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who died in 1967, at the age of 62, but whose life and career remain controversial to this day. The story begins in 1938, when Dr. Oppenheimer was already recognized as a brilliant theorist in both particle physics and astrophysics (he was co-author of a prescient paper, along with graduate student Hartland S. Snyder, developing equations based on Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, demonstrating the possibility of a star collapsing in upon itself and forming a black hole). Together with Dr. Ernest Lawrence, Oppenheimer had turned the University of California at Berkeley into a renowned center for teaching physics. Sharply played by a distracted, self-absorbed and often edgy Sam Waterston, Dr. Oppenheimer is portrayed as a somewhat vain and preening professor, surrounding himself with an adoring clique of occasionally shallow yet brilliant students. He almost unconciously flits through 1930's left-wing circles, never seeming to land anywhere. Fascism is on the rise in Europe and Japan, and the Communist Party is in the vanguard of what the script labels - somewhat ironically given Stalin's immanent pact with Hitler - as 'uncompromising opposition'.
This period will prove to be the source of his later difficulties, especially his troubled affair with the Communist Party member Jean Tatlock, as well as the left-wing affiliation of his brother and sister-in-law. Oppenheimer always refused to join the party, expressing doubts about life in the Soviet Union. Oppenheimer eventually heads the Manhattan Project, the crash program to develop an atomic bomb, which was successfully exploded in the New Mexico desert in July 1945. After the war, Oppenheimer was a chief advisor to the newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission, using the position to lobby for international control of atomic energy and to avert a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. He angered many politicians with his outspoken political opinions during the McCarthy era. Eventually, he had his security clearance revoked in a much-publicized and heavily politicized hearing in 1954. In that hearing, the lukewarm endorsement of Dr. Edward Teller, developer of the Hydrogen bomb, proved especially damaging to Oppenheimer. Teller's relationship with many colleagues was damaged, as well.
Waterston's performance as Oppenheimer is stunning: revealing subtle aspects of the physicist's personality that only a wonderfully realized performance can provide. His large supporting cast, playing the famous scientists surrounding Oppenheimer, is equally superb. Especially noteworthy is David Suchet (Poirot) as the complex, enigmatic Edward Teller, carefully avoiding portraying the 'heavy' or malign presence he might easily have become. Edward Hardwicke is Enrico Fermi, playing his brilliance with a touch of humor. Kate Harper is a poignant Jean Tatlock. Manning Redwood is Gen. Leslie Groves, the military leader of the project, in charge of a group of unruly scientists he regards as flakes, prima donnas and security risks. The entire ensemble cast is magnificent.
This seven hour series is one of the finest ever shown on American television. Our world was created out of these events, they are impossible to overdramatize. From science to world affairs, this series has it all. The events depicted here are enthralling. Most strongly recommended.
Mike Birman.
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