Oppenheimer: Twitter user points out historical error in Christopher Nolan’s film, stirs a debate

Christopher Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer has opened a can of worms. A Twitter user recently pointed out a historical inaccuracy in one of the scenes featuring the lead actor Cillian Murphy, who plays the titular role of nuclear physicist and the father of the atomic bomb, J Robert Oppenheimer. (Also Read: Elon Musk posts picture of viewer surfing TikTok during an Oppenheimer show: ‘This movie is way too long’)

What’s the alleged historical error?

A Twitter user, who goes by the handle of @AndrewRCraig, has posted a picture of Cillian aka Oppenheimer being applauded by people who are waving the US flags. But the user has pointed out that in 1945, the year that the scene is set in, the US flag had only 48 stars, and not 50 stars as depicted in the scene.

Andrew posted in the caption, “It was good and all, but I’ll be that guy and complain they used 50-star flags in a scene set in 1945.”

National Archives Foundation, the nonprofit partner of the National Archives, retweeted Andrew’s tweet and wrote in the caption, “It’s us, we’re the guy.”

Reactions to Andrew’s observation

A user commented on Andrew’s tweet and wrote, “This will be nails on a chalkboard to Nolan when he realizes.” Another wrote, “This is Batman going into the tunnel in daylight and coming out the other end at night in Rises kind of mistake,” referring to the lack of continuity in the said sequence in Christopher Nolan’s 2012 superhero film The Dark Knight Rises, featuring Christian Bale as Batman.

Another user commented, “Also the flags seem poorly printed… there’s no padding between the bottom row of stars and the boundary of the canton.” Another posted a hilarious GIF.

In Nolan’s defense

A Twitter user, however, explained how the ‘historical inaccuracy’ may not be that, but instead the POV of the central character. They wrote, “I can argue that this is done intentionally as the colored scenes were from Oppenheimer’s perspective, while the black and white scenes were from another. This would be a memory of Oppenheimer from his present day memory which does have 50 states on the flag.” When another user rebutted, “I Robert Oppenheimer is dead bro,” the user responded, “Not before 50 states.”

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