“More objective than I expected”, the film “Oppenheimer” is finally released in Japan, a country traumatized by the atomic bomb

No official reason had been given for the delayed release of “Oppenheimer” in Japan, fueling speculation that the film was too sensitive to be shown there.

Eight months after the rest of the world, Japanese spectators can discover the multi-awarded film in theaters since Friday Oppenheimer, which addresses a particularly sensitive subject in the archipelago through a portrait of the creator of the atomic bomb. Christopher Nolan’s feature film was released in many countries last summer at the same time as another blockbuster, Greta Gerwig’s joyous comedy barbie, sparking countless memes on the internet on this occasion. Images combining the two films shocked public opinion in Japan, the only country to have been struck by atomic weapons in August 1945 during the Second World War.

Speculations

No official reason had been given for the delayed release ofOppenheimer in Japan, fueling speculation that the film was too sensitive to be shown there. On Friday, in front of a large cinema in Tokyo, only a small poster indicated the presence of this blockbuster with a budget of 100 million dollars, which has already garnered more than 960 million dollars in revenue worldwide, according to the specialist site BoxOfficeMojo . “It would have been inconceivable that a film on the development (of the atomic bomb, editor’s note) would not be released in Japan,” estimated Tatsuhisa Yue, 65, interviewed by AFP after a session.

More than 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki by the two American atomic bombs dropped on these cities. A few days later, on August 15, 1945, Japan accepted its unconditional surrender.

“I think the distributors avoided releasing it in the summer because everyone in Japan remembers (the bombings) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at that time.

Tatsuhisa Yue, spectator

to AFP

“Even as a Japanese, I found him to be much more objective than I expected”noted another spectator, Fuyuki Ike, 48 years old.

“Very America-centric”

The film which won the Oscar for best film as well as six other statuettes, retraces in three hours the key moments in the life of Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who brought the planet into the nuclear age before being attacked by doubt in the face of his creation which has become a tool of omnipotence. In Hiroshima, the feature film was awaited with some trepidation. “Is this really a film that locals (here) can bear to watch?” asked Kyoko Heya, the president of the city’s International Film Festival, after the Oscar triumph of Christopher Nolan’s film. Kyoko Heya had judged him “very America-centric”admitting to having first been “terrified” to the idea of ​​showing it in Hiroshima.

“I now hope that many people will watch the film, because I would be happy to see Hiroshima, Nagasaki and atomic weapons become topics of discussion thanks to this film”

Kyoko Heya, president of the Hiroshima International Film Festival

to AFP

“There could have been many more descriptions and representations of the horror of atomic weapons”criticized Takashi Hiraoka, 96, a bomb survivor and former mayor of Hiroshima, at a special screening in the city earlier this month.

The film also premiered in Nagasaki, where 80-year-old Masao Tomonaga, another “hibakusha” (bomb survivor), told him he was impressed by the film.

“I had thought the lack of footage of atomic bomb survivors was a weakness. But in fact Oppenheimer’s statements in dozens of scenes show the shock he felt at the reality of the bombing atomic. That was enough for me.”

Masao Tomonaga, 80, bomb survivor

to AFP

Masao Tomonaga, who was two years old at the time of the bombing, later became a researcher studying leukemia caused by radiation.