Oscars with a British accent-and no upsets

Somany Brits and asupremely talented Irishman took home awards, while Oppenheimer’ relevance can hardly be doubted

- Peter Bradshaw

This was an Oscars night with a British accent: so many Brits (and a supremely talented Irishman) strode up to the mic with their statuette . So it was fitting that the best picture was created by an Englishman, director Christopher Nolan.

Oppenheimer is the film whose awards journey crescendo has coincided with Vladimir Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons if Nato personnel are deployed in Ukraine – while releasing evidence that British intelligence officers were deployed in Ukraine. Its relevance can hardly be doubted. Nolan ’s monumental story of the A- bomb’s inventor, J  Robert Oppenheimer, and his anguish in giving humanity the means of its own destruction, got its predicted landslide with seven Oscars, including best film, best director and best actor for Cillian Murphy , whose fierce visionary stare and clenched intensity captivated Academy voters. Of the other Oscars it won, it’s fair to single out Jennifer Lame ’s editing award, an important part of the bold narrative structure of Oppenheimer: its refusal to play by the usual biopic rules.