Raindrops help usher in the opening moments of “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s ambitious, Oscar-nominated biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb.” Those simple raindrops give way to high resolution images of bomb detonation that are both sobering and fascinating.

Narrating the sequence, Nolan said that the idea to open with the raindrops came late to him and his editor, Jennifer Lame, “but ultimately became a motif that runs the whole way through the film and became very important.”

The scene introduces us to the two timelines the feature is broken into: fission and fusion, two approaches to releasing nuclear energy. The fission sequences are in color, while fusion segments are shot in black and white on special IMAX film developed expressly for the movie.

The scene, which features Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, encapsulates the themes of hubris and regret that will be explored more deeply over the course of the film.

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