I guess now is as good a time as any to ask about that line. It’s bugged me since I first heard it.
Since it is translated from Sanskrit anyway, why is it translated so…badly. “I am become death” isn’t even proper English, unless “become” is an adjective in context. Why couldn’t it be “I have become death”, or “I am becoming death”? What’s the deal? It’s so…awkward.
It’s like becoming boats!
It’s perfectly fine:
It’s an archaic construction, but used all the time in the Bible, and Lincoln used it in the Gettysburg Address.
I don’t think there’s any CGI in the movie…?
I haven’t seen it…
But these days, I find that hard to believe. Everyone does some clean up these days. Add a cloud, remove a car. I think it’s cheaper to “fix it in post” than wait for the perfect lighting.
Maybe Nolan is a neo-luddite, and he did none. Too bad he can’t do a decent sound mix. 
Yeah, I was wondering that too. It’s quite possible that there’s no computer generated imagery in the movie, but there’s no shortage of digital VFX, such as color grading and digital compositing to cover up or replace elements on the screen or combine multiple images into one. In fact, according to Cartoon Brew, much of this work was done by an uncredited overseas VFX studio.
I commented in the “Movies Seen Recently” thread, but I’ll just reiterate here:
Learned a lot, assuming most of the movie is actually true. Thought it was at times very interesting, at other times not all that interesting. Well acted, thought Robert Downey was probably the most surprising and best performance in it. Yep, that’s a movie. A good movie. Not an astonishingly great movie, not game changing. It won’t be in my top 5 at the end of the year, most likely.
If I was on Siskel and Ebert, I’d give it a thumbs up, but remind people to reign in expectations.
I mean, it is a biopic. Nothing hugely new in that genre from this movie.
Just a quick question for those who have seen this and are familiar with the gritty details of The Manhattan Project.
Was the portrayal of African-American women in this film reasonably historic?
My father is not a fan of ‘revisionist history’ as he calls it and his panties are already in a twist over this aspect. On one hand it’s Hollywood so anyone going to a film for ‘truth’ as he calls it, is a fool. But on the other I see his point, Jim Crow laws were disgusting and they were in full effect at this time and to not portray that historically almost does a disservice to the unfortunate people who suffered under it during this era.
I have not seen the movie yet so I can’t comment.
Probably not. There were a number of African-American scientists (including women) involved in the Manhattan Project:
However, the film shows them working at Los Alamos, and the article says this:
A study assessing the involvement of African Americans at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge between 1942 and 1958 was prepared for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park as of September 2019. No evidence was found of African Americans working as scientists or technicians at Los Alamos prior to 1947. The first African American to work at Los Alamos was Clayborne Carson Sr., the father of Clayborne Carson Jr., who was hired as a laboratory security inspector by the United States Atomic Energy Commission.[1]: 14–16
Is it revisionist to show them at Los Alamos when they were actually working elsewhere? That’s for someone else to decide. But they did at least play a part.
I’m curious which way his boxers are in a twist. Is he upset the movie is woke? Because… not even a little.
Is he upset that African Americans didn’t feature more in the movie?
Well, maybe a tiny bit. If I’m not misremembering, the film shows an African-American woman in Oppenheimer’s inner circle of scientists at Los Alamos. And that probably didn’t happen.
Yeah, I don’t think he completely understands Woke, and he is over 70 so that may certainly be a part of it. But to give him the benefit of the doubt, let’s say that what was portrayed (and again, I have not seen the movie yet) did not occur historically either in record or reasonably assumed to have happened. And yeah, there were scientists that helped Fermi, the idea here is did what occurred on film really happen in life.
Again, Honkies were racist in the 40’s but a younger generation would not know that by seeing this film, is his take I guess.
Looking at IMDB cast photos, the only black performer listed played J Ernest Wilkins, who was a real person, a black nuclear scientist who worked on the Manhattan Project in Chicago. He was actually blocked from transferring to Oakridge during the war due to Jim Crow, but I don’t think New Mexico had those laws.
Since they showed a few visits between Chicago and Los Alamos, it is possible he’s shown in the movie and the justification is he could have been visiting.
Were there other Los Alamos scenes with other black characters? There is a black actress credited as “Berkeley Student” on IMDB, so if the scene was at Berkeley, that might explain her being in a group scene. And Berkeley probably admitted black students before any universities in the south.
ETA: The first black student admitted to Berkeley was around 1910, so no one can claim there’s a problem with a scene at Berkeley.
Yeah, there’s plenty of wiggle room along these lines. Whether or not it actually happened, it’s well within the bounds of what could have happened. The movie isn’t 100% accurate in that sense. But when it takes dramatic license, it’s usually at least plausible, or just a minor distortion of the truth.
I’m pretty sure she was in a scene at Los Alamos, where some of the big names are discussing things (maybe in the room with the container of marbles?)… but it’s quite possible I’m misremembering. Or maybe she played some totally different role.
I think we inherit from French, which I’ve recently started studying again after umpteen years. There are “are” and “have” past tense verbs, and “become” is one of the “are” past tense verbs (“je suis devenu la morte”).
Is that equivalent to the present perfect tense in English? Modern English typically uses have as the auxiliary verb, but be is acceptable if somewhat archaic. It’s a little odd that it worked out that way, really. You say “I am death”, so why did “I have become death” win out over “I am become death”?
Can’t well explicate it, but, for one thing, the source is from an exotic, obscure (to English speakers) religious text, so just maybe that construction is somehow truer to the intent of the original text than a more ordinary construction. Also, as the other sources have suggested, it somehow sounds more profound and formal.
If it’s from the first English translation (1785) it’s contemporaneous with the height of flowery English prose when brevity was seriously undervalued.
My plans have changed. I won’t be going. I posted this to FB and I’ll extend the offer here for those local to Sacramento CA —
2 free tickets to Oppenheimer
◆ City — Sacramento CA
◆ Date — 7pm Sun 30 July
◆ Theater — Esquire IMAX, 1211 K Street, Sacramento CA
◆ Note — two seats, not together; they’re two rows apart. Seats were going fast and this was the best available when purchased.
◆ Note 2 — sorry, Barbie tix not included! (LOL) 
Dear friends — our plans changed and we won’t be going. Whoever wants these tix, PM me, or if you have my cell then text me. I’ll send the tix right away to the first responder, and once you’ve confirmed receipt I’ll destroy my copy of the tix.
{I may not reply to you. If that’s the case please accept my apologies and that means the tix have already been claimed.}
This theater is 1 of only 3 in Northern California that is the 15/70 format of IMAX (wiki info links below).
Just watched it last night. Went in thinking it was a 2 hour movie and left thinking the same. I was surprised to learn it was three hours, that’s how captivating it was. RDJ was just amazing and the material he was given to work with let him show what an amazing actor he is. I loved the throw away references to Feynman with the bongos and watching the text through the windshield.
Did Oppenheimer cheat with Feynman’s wife? Is Feynman the Richard that died?
Also, did Oliver Loud show up in the movie? I had a class from him in college. He became a pacifist after working on the Manhattan project.
Not sure why you would ask that from the film. As referenced above, Feynman’s wife was in the process of dying at the time. And Feynman long outlasted Oppy. Remember Challenger?