"I always thought that the Lord was on our side. I guess today we'll find out," said General Groves.
I thought that was a funny statement. I'm sure many religious people have uttered similar statements regardless of what task they were about to undertake--going to war, developing penicillin, blowing up churches, saving kids from a burning building, flying planes into high rises, or donating to a worthy cause. In every instance I'm sure someone said, "God is with us," as if the accomplishment of the task is proof that God is pleased with what they've done.
Developing the Atom Bomb is no different. There are those who believe it was a good thing, those who believe it was bad, and perhaps those who believe it was bad but necessary. In any case, it would be arrogant and extremely presumptuous to believe that God was pleased with it.
"Fat Man and Little Boy," if you haven't already guessed, was about the development of the Atom Bomb. The principle characters, per the movie, were General Groves (Paul Newman), Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), Michael Merriman (John Cusack), and the other scientists and engineers working on the project.
General Groves was a war hawk and never once had a single misgiving, doubt, or apprehension about the development and usage of the two Atom Bombs dropped on Japan (named Fat Man and Little Boy). He spoke the words I quoted at the beginning of this review. All of the others working on this project seemed not to have General Groves' same conviction.
"Fat Man and Little Boy" didn't seem satisfied as a movie just sticking with the men, the task at hand, and the rocky road getting there. The movie took a couple of detours to show us Oppenheimer's extra-marital affair and Merriman's budding relationship with Nurse Robinson (Laura Dern). These sidebars had little, if any, bearing on the creation of the Atom Bomb, but they are the soft and sensual pieces most movies crave.
With and without the romantic relationships this movie was a tad too dramatic. It was as if: since they're making such an important, world altering weapon people should have important, world altering lines and deliveries of those lines. Some of the characters diverged, at times, from being human to being characters.
"Fat Man and Little Boy" is about a historical and historically grave matter, so it deserved a serious and grave approach. For the most part it got that and there can be no spoilers here, we know what the end result was.
I thought that was a funny statement. I'm sure many religious people have uttered similar statements regardless of what task they were about to undertake--going to war, developing penicillin, blowing up churches, saving kids from a burning building, flying planes into high rises, or donating to a worthy cause. In every instance I'm sure someone said, "God is with us," as if the accomplishment of the task is proof that God is pleased with what they've done.
Developing the Atom Bomb is no different. There are those who believe it was a good thing, those who believe it was bad, and perhaps those who believe it was bad but necessary. In any case, it would be arrogant and extremely presumptuous to believe that God was pleased with it.
"Fat Man and Little Boy," if you haven't already guessed, was about the development of the Atom Bomb. The principle characters, per the movie, were General Groves (Paul Newman), Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), Michael Merriman (John Cusack), and the other scientists and engineers working on the project.
General Groves was a war hawk and never once had a single misgiving, doubt, or apprehension about the development and usage of the two Atom Bombs dropped on Japan (named Fat Man and Little Boy). He spoke the words I quoted at the beginning of this review. All of the others working on this project seemed not to have General Groves' same conviction.
"Fat Man and Little Boy" didn't seem satisfied as a movie just sticking with the men, the task at hand, and the rocky road getting there. The movie took a couple of detours to show us Oppenheimer's extra-marital affair and Merriman's budding relationship with Nurse Robinson (Laura Dern). These sidebars had little, if any, bearing on the creation of the Atom Bomb, but they are the soft and sensual pieces most movies crave.
With and without the romantic relationships this movie was a tad too dramatic. It was as if: since they're making such an important, world altering weapon people should have important, world altering lines and deliveries of those lines. Some of the characters diverged, at times, from being human to being characters.
"Fat Man and Little Boy" is about a historical and historically grave matter, so it deserved a serious and grave approach. For the most part it got that and there can be no spoilers here, we know what the end result was.