The pace of the film was slow at times, but historically accurate. I questioned the need for the Merryman character for most of the film until what happened in the conclusion, which captured in a stark manner the deadly work these scientists were doing. The character of Michael Merryman is fictional, but it was based on composites of two scientists in 1946 at Los Alamos that suffered his fate. The portrayal by Paul Newman of General Groves as not the nicest person is actually nicer than the real Leslie Groves probably deserved. J. Robert Oppenheimer was a very complex person, and the mention of his name still will quickly elevate the blood pressure of an old McCarthyite It's a good history lesson about one of the most important events in U.S. history.