Oppenheimer viewers left confused after spotting historical error in the film
Published on Jul 31, 2023 at 2:01 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Aug 01, 2023 at 12:30 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Oppenheimer is out now, making big bucks at the box office and garnering rave reviews from movie critics.
But keen-eyed viewers are now spotting a historical error that the production team let slip under the radar.
Hollywood is the land of perfectionists and nitpicking, so it was only a matter of time before someone noticed.
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In a scene that’s supposedly set in 1945, the characters are celebrating in the auditorium and waving US flags.
But the US flags in question have 50 stars.
This is a factual and historical error because the 50-star flag would only be introduced over a decade later, in 1959, after the inclusion of Hawaii and Alaska.
For context, the entire movie is set in the 1940s.
It tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the ‘father’ of the atomic bomb as we know it.
It may sound like a small error to some but a lot of people noticed.
People took to Instagram and Twitter – sorry, we mean ‘X’ – to point out the mistake.
“Major issue with Oppenheimer: in the scene where they’re celebrating in the auditorium, the small American flags people are holding are 50 star flags instead of the historically accurate 48-star flag,” one viewer said.
“Yeah so Oppenheimer is unarguably one of the best films I’ve ever seen. The only flaw is that they showed American flags with 50 stars on it when the US only had 48 states in 1945 lol. That’s it. The rest of it is perfect,” another user wrote.
Yet another user said they feel sorry for the guy who counted the stars, which is a good point.
“Well, they f***d up badly with this. I feel bad for the guy who counted the stars,” the user said.
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