Fat Man and Little Boy

Set during World War II, the Manhattan Project accelerates from recruitment and research in 1942 to the catastrophic demonstration of power in 1945. The timeline follows laboratory work, security measures against espionage, and personal relationships shaped by wartime secrecy. By 1945, the project consolidates at multiple sites, leading to the first nuclear detonation.

The film traverses multiple sites in the American Southwest and California. The primary research hub sits at Berkeley for early theory work, while a remote mesa overlooking Los Alamos Canyon hosts the secret project, northwest of Santa Fe. The narrative culminates at the Trinity Site in the Alamogordo Desert, the first test of the atomic bomb.

⚖️ Ethics

The project raises profound moral questions about scientific responsibility and the impact of discovery on human lives. Scientists debate whether personal conscience should steer research or whether pure curiosity justifies the means. Personal relationships, such as the affair and the heartbreak, underscore the human costs of monumental decisions. The result is a tension between duty to country and duty to humanity.

🔬 Science

The film centers on the clash between theoretical physics and practical engineering, showing how ideas must be translated into weapons. It highlights collaboration among diverse experts, bureaucratic pressures, and the race against time. It also portrays the risks of radiation exposure and the ethical limits of experimentation. The pursuit of knowledge becomes inseparable from its potential for destruction.

💥 Power

The project culminates in the detonation at Trinity, revealing the sheer scale of human invention. The film presents the awe and fear surrounding the birth of the Atomic Age. It also questions who wields such power and under what oversight. The narrative suggests that power, once unleashed, reshapes politics, science, and personal destinies.