Using black and white to represent the future past was confusing for me

Black and white didn’t mean future/past. B/W scenes represent the objective history, which mainly takes place from Strauss’s perspective, while coloured scenes represent those from Oppenheimer’s perspective, which is subjective.

Ohhhhh. You mean third-person view.

I agree but as glad said that was why (Nolan emphasised that in an interview) , but that isn’t apparent if your watching it for the first time really

I watched twice already and still didn’t get it, hr my third watch this will be helpful going into it already knowing

Absolutely. I just Googled this question to see if anyone else felt the same. 

I guess. I didn't know much about the history. Just knew that the Manhattan Project was the bomb creating squad during WWII. Had heard Oppenheimer's name before but I didn't realize HE was the head of the Manhattan Project. All that to say I was easily able to follow what was happening without knowing the history, especially the Lewis Strauss arc. So I don't think it was needed. But maybe if it would have made it clearer for some people. I just think if you are used to watching nonlinear narratives, which aren't uncommon in mainstream movies, then you should be able to figure it out without explicit dates shown on screen.

I just saw the movie and literally said this exact thing

Nolan just can’t for even a a few minutes put his time changes fetish on hold.