National security writer Bill Hennigan has spent many years ringing the alarm about the world’s new nuclear era — the subject of At the Brink, a new series from @nytopinion — and the crisis on the horizon. For anyone whose interest was piqued by the origin story of nuclear weapons in “Oppenheimer,” Bill, who happens to be a movie buff, recommends three essential films that illuminate our new nuclear era. We make tons of audio essays like this every week, from voices across the Opinion section. You can hear them all right now in the New York Times audio app, available for Times subscribers in the Apple App Store. | 🎨 Akshita Chandra/The New York Times; 📷 Universal Pictures/Alamy #oppenheimer #nuclearweapons #filmtok #nytopinion

In 1954, J. Robert Oppenheimer foolishly subjected himself to a kangaroo court to defend himself “against charges that he was a security risk, and perhaps even disloyal,” writes Kai Bird, a co-author of the biography “American Prometheus,” on which Christopher Nolan based his latest film. “Oppenheimer may have been naïve, but he was right to fight the charges — and right to use his influence as one of the country’s pre-eminent scientists to speak out against a nuclear arms race,” he says. Oppenheimer’s life story is, sadly, still relevant today, argues Kai. “Oppenheimer was destroyed by a political movement characterized by rank know-nothing, anti-intellectual, xenophobic demagogues,” he writes. Kai hopes the new film “will initiate a national conversation not only about our existential relationship to weapons of mass destruction, but also the need in our society for scientists as public intellectuals.” #Oppenheimer #nuclear #history #nytopinion