Wonders are Many
"Wonders are Many" tells the story of making a grand opera about the atomic bomb.
This behind-the-scenes documentary follows composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars over the course of a year as they work to forge the tale of J. Robert Oppenheimer into a music drama like no other: the strange and beautiful "Doctor Atomic." As creation of the opera unfolds, as Sellars and Adams struggle to make high art from the most savage weapon in history, the film also explores the unnerving 60 year history of nuclear weapons.
It shows the real events behind the drama on stage, and the unintended consequences of actions (and inactions) of men working on the first nuclear device.
Implicit throughout the film, against a present day background of terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and counter-proliferation is the question: "How can art make history relevant to current affairs?" The film makes a powerful assertion that, as the Greeks understood so well, public art is essential to the public good.
