Baftas 2024: ‘Oppenheimer’ wins ‘Best Film’
Christopher Nolan’s historical biographical drama Oppenheimer has been awarded the 2024 Bafta for ‘Best Film’, beating Poor Things, The Holdovers and Anatomy of a Fall to the prize.
Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer focuses on the film of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist credited with being the father of the atomic bomb.
The film was produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, and he accepted the award; Nolan paid his respects to his competitors and thanked the actors who starred in the film. Thomas shared in her speech: “This is an honour and, as Chris said, this is a homecoming for us.”
The former London-based student noted: “This is not at all what I imagined when I was sitting at UCL Film Society with Chris and dreaming about making films for a living,” before paying an extra special tribute to Nolan.
“I would not be up here on this stage if it wasn’t for our esteemed director, Chris,” she shared. “He is inspired and inspiring, he’s brilliant, he’s often infuriating, he’s always right! And I’m incredibly grateful to him for letting me come on this ride.”
In our review of Oppenheimer, we wrote, “Let’s face it, Nolan consistently delivers in whatever project he takes on; he knows his vision and style and creates a positive, intimate environment for his actors to provide their best work.
The review continued, “But with Oppenheimer, he hasn’t just delivered an entertaining, thought-provoking movie as he had done with his previous efforts, but a thoroughly important one that informs even the most sheltered of us about the global situation we find ourselves in today.”
Oppenheimer joins a list of prestigious films that have won the ‘Best Film’ Bafta over the last few years, including All Quiet on the Western Front, The Power of the Dog and Nomadland.
Who was Oppenheimer?
J. Robert Oppenheimer was an American theoretical physicist known for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, which helped to develop the first nuclear weapons. This led to the critical bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in 1945 and the end of the war.
Oppenheimer’s career was marred by controversy, and he was scrutinised for his involvement in communist circles. He later became an advocate for the control of nuclear weapons and opposed their development.
Check out the trailer for Oppenheimer below.
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