If you're trying to find a local IMAX 70mm theater to see "Oppenheimer," good luck! There are only 30 such screens in the US. (The closest one to me is in Canada—awp!). In the meantime may I suggest watching the another Oppenheimer-starring project? WGN's "Manhattan."
This fissionable fiction is a doozy. Cleverly written storylines interweave a fantastic cast as it incorporates the themes of wartime espionage, bristling egos, and brainy nuclear-nerds. This Oppenheimer is secretive, manipulative, and kinda pervy. In the final episode the tense countdown to first big nuclear blast takes you bomb-side as the protagonists wrangle with personal, professional, and moral conflicts. They don't all make it out alive.
But how much of it is true?
Fall into a fascinating rabbit hole of facts in the Atomic Heritage Foundation. Here you'll find an episode-by-episode recap and evaluation of the series' events by people who were actually there. No, there wasn't really a torn-in-half Hershey bar wrapper used as a spy secret identity confirmation token–but there was a bisected Jello box! And find the home movie footage from Los Alamos with a snippet of a wartime wedding –-attended by Oppenheimer himself! Turns out he actually encouraged communication and the free exchange of scientific ideas and was admired by his staff co-workers.
