“Oppenheimer” Debauches Hindu Scripture, Alienates Fans
I have long admired director Christopher Nolan for films like Interstellar that combine stunning visuals with thought-provoking themes. My anticipation was high as I prepared to see his latest film about J. Robert Oppenheimer tonight. I expected a nuanced exploration of the man grappling with profound moral questions. How jarring then to learn the film contains an outrageous scene that insensitively distorts a deeply meaningful influence in Oppenheimer's life.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, often called the father of the atomic bomb, was profoundly shaped by the Bhagavad Gita. As a young man studying Sanskrit at Harvard in the 1920s, he was introduced to Hindu scripture. Its philosophy of duty as motivation for action resonated deeply. Oppenheimer kept a copy of the Gita close throughout his life, turning to it as a wellspring of ethical grounding. When Oppenheimer oversaw the first nuclear detonation as head of the Manhattan Project, the Gita provided a poignant moral context. He reflected, “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”
Oppenheimer’s solemn quoting of the Gita reflects how the text shaped his inner life as he grappled with the annihilative power he spearheaded. Tragically, the film fails to honor this profound influence and desecrates it. In an outrageous fictional scene, the director depicts Oppenheimer reading the Gita during sexual activity with a naked woman. This vulgar misrepresentation appalls those aware of Oppenheimer’s genuine reverence for the scripture that guided his moral compass. Where Oppenheimer pored over the Gita in its original Sanskrit, grasping for deeper meaning in its elegant verses, the film reduces it to a prop for gratuitous sensationalism. While Oppenheimer agonized over the philosophical questions of duty and destruction the Gita raised as he worked on the bomb, the film debased it as a vulgar accompaniment to carnal indulgence. The sincere man who clung to the Gita for ethical grounding is rendered hollow, made two-dimensional.
The profound influence that shaped the moral compass of a brilliant but conflicted man is diminished to trite tabloid fodder. This arrogant exercise in artistic license demeans the reverence millions hold for the Bhagavad Gita. It is an insensitive affront to sincerely-held beliefs. Rather than enlighten, the filmmaker’s choice denigrates. It represents a wasted opportunity to illuminate how sacred texts guide our understanding of profound moral questions. The scene gratuitously sensationalizes rather than offers insight. One hopes the filmmaker will reflect on who he dehumanizes and wounds with such callous creativity. True art elucidates our shared humanity. This director chose superficial provocation over exploring what deeply motivated Oppenheimer as he unleashed terrifying new power upon the world.
My anticipation for a thoughtful biopic is replaced by disappointment at such an unnecessary distortion. I hope other parts of the film evoke Oppenheimer's inner landscape with more care and nuance. But this gratuitous scene undermines the audience's trust in the director's good faith efforts to portray the complex man caught between duty, destruction, and the wisdom of ancient scripture. Furthermore, this insensitive depiction feeds an insidious cycle of debasing minorities' cherished cultures. It plants seeds of self-doubt and shame in vulnerable youth already struggling with questions of identity and belonging. While creators may outwardly reject bigotry, thoughtlessness like this normalizes contempt for entire communities. I will still see the film this evening, but I am troubled by this failure of empathy and concern for its wider implications. One hopes this filmmaker develops a greater awareness of how his work impacts marginalized communities struggling for dignity and acceptance in a culture where their stories are routinely appropriated or misrepresented. For minorities subjected to a thousand cuts of dismissals, each thoughtless attack on their humanity inflicts harm.
