Fans point out historical mistake in Christopher Nolan movie ‘Oppenheimer’
After Christopher Nolan’s latest epic Oppenheimer premiered in theatres, keen-eyed fans took note of a historical error in one particular scene.
During one scene set in 1945, Oppenheimer is greeted by a crowd of people waving American flags. Upon further inspection, the American flags featured in the film are different from those flown in 1945.
Given the period, the flags in the movie feature the 50 stars to commemorate the 50 states. When Oppenheimer was set, the US only had 48 states, with Alaska and Hawaii not being official states until 1959.
Since Nolan is known for meticulous attention to detail, some fans have suggested that the mistake was intentional. Given the scene in question reflects Oppenheimer’s present-day memory, the flags would have had 50 states since Oppenheimer is speaking after 1959.
Telling the story of the famous inventor, the latest Nolan epic stars Cillian Murphy as the renowned scientist in charge of creating the atomic bomb. This marks the sixth collaboration between Murphy and Nolan since starring in Batman Begins as Scarecrow.
When talking about the film, Murphy discussed being taken aback by the script, recalling, “When I read the script, I’d never seen this before it was written in the first person. It just had this kind of immediacy and this kind of visceral punch”.
The movie is also coming out amid a writers and actors strike in Hollywood. Though the Nolan epic had a premiere in London, the red carpet event scheduled for New York was cancelled due to strike solidarity.
Oppenheimer was released on July 21st, 2023.
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