Peter Bart: Los Alamos Was A Secret Town Whose ‘Oppenheimer’ Wizards Feared “Playing God” With Their Lethal “Gadget”
deadline.comThe mysterious sanctuary hidden away in the Jemez mountains was known only as Box 1663 in the mid 1950s. The mission of its 13,000 residents was to create “the gadget.” Living there was a challenge. “It’s a prison camp for eggheads,” whispered one scientist.
As a young newsman, I decided I had to find a way to visit Los Alamos, even though I knew it would take time — perhaps years.
I finally made it in 1956 (details below). And I re-visited it this week when I viewed Christopher Nolan’s new epic Oppenheimer, a brilliantly engrossing movie receiving unstinting raves from the critics.
Audiences worldwide will discover not one movie but two with contrasting themes – one a gripping heroic thriller about the dawn of a troubled nuclear age, the other an absorbing, if talky, political drama steeped in Cold War politics.
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