1
Manhattan (2014-2015)
Let’s get this out of the way now: the short-lived WGN America drama Manhattan is the best show or movie about the making of the atomic bomb. Created by the incomparable Sam Shaw, the series takes place in Los Alamos, the makeshift town built by the U.S. government to house the scientists working on the atomic bomb and their families. Frank Winter (John Benjamin Hickey) is the perpetually ornery (and habitually unshaven) leader of the team helping to design the implosion model of the bomb; he gives a scintillating performance that turns out to be one of many. You have pre-Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Rachel Brosnahan, pre-Evil Katja Hebers, pre-The Crown Olivia Williams, and pre-Succession Ashley Zuckerman, who at one point gives a terrifyingly arresting monologue justifying the bomb. Manhattan is the show that developed your favorite actors into your favorite actors.
The show was so good that Nolan brought one of its actors, Christopher Denham, to Oppenheimer to play a character with a different name (Klaus Fuchs), but the same role.
Oppenheimer may not be the central focus, but we get glimpses into who the man is in ways Oppenheimer never could. One example? Getting patched through by eavesdropping switchboard operators to Jean Tatlock for some mid-day BDSM phone sex. It leaves him with the freakiest bowtie request you may ever see in a show about scientists.
The show only ran for two seasons, but for 23 (mostly immaculate) episodes, you get to see the betrayal and mind games that went into building the atomic bomb and hear one of the most accurate lines ever uttered from a fictional Manhattan Project: “In war, scientists are soldiers.”
Stream It Here
2
The Day After Trinity (1981)
This Academy Award-nominated documentary film traces Oppenheimer’s life from heralded nuclear bomb mastermind to regretful nuclear proliferation opponent. Featuring candid interviews with scientists and individuals involved in The Manhattan Project and previously classified footage, The Day After Trinity allows you to see the real emotional stakes of this historically destructive endeavor.
Stream It Here
3
Oppenheimer (1980)
BBC
Before Sam Waterson fought for convictions as Jack McCoy on Law & Order with the swagger of a sage elder statesman, he was J. Robert Oppenheimer in the 1980 BBC miniseries Oppenheimer. The series tells Oppenheimer’s story with a similar level of governmental suspicion over his communist ties as Nolan’s movie. What differs is Oppenheimer’s relationship with Jean Tatlock (Kate Harper), which is more fleshed out in all of its tender complexity rather than the few scenes dedicated to it in the film. Oppenheimer is a great companion series for your theatrical experience.
Stream It Here
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
4
Chernobyl (2019)
Oppenheimer put its titular genius in a moral hell in the aftermath of the bombs’ deployment over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Emmy Award-winning HBO miniseries Chernobyl puts you in the ash-filled skies and building rubble of Ukraine from the 1986 nuclear plant disaster that left dozens killed. Instead of simply seeing the bureaucrats and scientists, Chernobyl does a historically accurate and gripping job of placing you in the lives of the firefighters, volunteers, miners, and litany of regular people who risked their lives to help save others.
Stream It Here
5
To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb (2023)
Just before Nolan unveiled his grim masterpiece to moviegoers, Oppenheimer’s grandson Charles Oppenheimer and a collection of others discussed the legacy of not only the father of the nuclear age, but also how his contributions reverberate to this day. The most insightful part of this 87-minute documentary is the Hiroshima survivor Hideko Tamura’s traumatic firsthand account of life directly after the bombing. This is a worthwhile documentary for those who want to see what Oppenheimer means to their lives and others in the present day.
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : Men’s Health – https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/g44642436/movies-like-oppenheimer/
![Forest ecology cannot be reduced to arithmetic, says M.I. Varghese [Interview] – Mongabay-India](https://earth-news.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/328946-forest-ecology-cannot-be-reduced-to-arithmetic-says-mi-varghese-interview-mongabay-india-120x86.jpg)
