Eight months after the rest of the world, Japanese spectators can discover the multi-awarded film in theaters since Friday Oppenheimerwhich 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 blockbusterGreta Gerwig’s joyous comedy barbiesparking 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.
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,” said Tatsuhisa Yue, 65, interviewed by AFP at the end of a screening.
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,” added Mr. Yue, praising a film “made in a very sincere way “.
“Even as a Japanese, I found him to be much more objective than I expected,” noted another spectator, Fuyuki Ike, 48.
“Lack of images” of victims
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 people (here) can bear to watch? “, asked Kyoko Heya, the president of the city’s International Film Festival, after the Oscar triumph ofOppenheimer earlier this month.
Mme Heya considered it “very America-centric”, admitting to having initially been “terrified” at 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,” she added.
“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, during a special screening in the city organized earlier this month.
Oppenheimer was also previewed in Nagasaki, where Masao Tomonaga, 80, another “hibakusha” (bomb survivor), said he was impressed by the film.
“I had thought the lack of images of atomic bomb survivors was a weakness,” said Mr. Tomonaga, who was two years old at the time of the bombing and later became a researcher studying leukemia. caused by radiation.
“But in fact, Oppenheimer’s statements in dozens of scenes show the shock he felt at the reality of the atomic bombing. That was enough for me.”