With his usual flair for using time in creative ways, Nolan follows the man who became a destroyer of worlds (Cillian Murphy) through two interwoven timelines. One charts his rise from ambitious student to politically-conscious professor to managing the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, leading to the monumental Trinity test of "the gadget." The other thread traces Oppy's fall from grace as his doubts about the ethics of nuclear weaponry and pinko-commie past call his loyalty to the United States into question. With strong supporting turns from a star-studded cast (Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh…the list goes on), this towering cinematic achievement should be seen on the largest screen possible.

D: Christopher Nolan, US, 2023, 3h, CC

Co-sponsored by the Initiative for Global Security at the Dickey Center for International Understanding. This film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus, co-written by former Dickey Center director Martin Sherwin '59.