Overlooking Oppenheimer s historical inaccuracies

Oscars overlooking Oppenheimer's 'glaring historical inaccuracies' for 'good storytelling'
Story by Alex West • 5d • 2 min read


Oppenheimer was ctiricized for frailing to show the impacts of the atomic bomb
© Melinda Sue Gordon
The Oscars might not mind that Oppenheimer is not historically accurate as it tells a good story, an expert said.

Filmmaker Neil Chase said the Academy Awards don't really worry about mistakes in history. Oppenheimer, which follows the creation of the atomic bomb, is not true to history.

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But the people who choose the winners at the Oscars don't seem to care much about that. Filmmaker Neil Chase told the Mirror US: "Historical inaccuracies play little to no part in the decision-making process when it comes to the winning categories."

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Lots of movies that changed history have been nominated before, and some have even won. Neil said: "The Academy consistently chooses fiction over fact."

He said great movies like Ben Hur, Cleopatra and Gone With the Wind had some mistakes in their plots.

"This is why the Best Picture Oscar is given to a feature film and not to a documentary," he added. Documentaries can tell a story, but a feature film biopic will have a different sort of lens that is "compelling rather than the most factually accurate way."

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Neil said: "The portrayal of historical figures and events through a fictitious lens trumps historical fact as long as the story, direction, cinematography, and performances are of a sufficiently high enough quality.

"All this is to say that fictional accounts of historical facts are always preceded by the words 'based on a true story' rather than 'this is exactly how it happened.'".

A major and controversial inaccuracy is the way the film avoided showing the impact on the surrounding towns. It wasn't inherently some sort of lie or fiction, but more so the omission of a key element.

The nearby town of Amarillo, Texas saw the explosion of the Trinity Test. People in nearby areas saw their windows break, but the government planted a story to deter them from catching on.

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