Eight months after the rest of the world, Japanese viewers can discover the multi-award-winning film in theaters starting Friday oppenheimerwhich addresses a particularly sensitive topic 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 box office hit, Greta Gerwig’s light-hearted comedy. Barbiegenerating countless memes on the Internet on this occasion.
The images combining the two films shocked public opinion in Japan, the only country to be hit by atomic weapons in August 1945 during World War II.
No official reason had been given for the delay in the release ofoppenheimer in Japan, fueling speculation that the film was too sensitive to screen there.
“Inconceivable that it won’t come out”
On Friday, in front of a large cinema in Tokyo, only a small sign indicated the presence of this blockbuster with a budget of 100 million dollars, which has already grossed more than 960 million dollars worldwide, according to the specialized site BoxOfficeMojo .
“It would have been inconceivable that a film about the development (from the atomic bomb, editor’s note) “Don’t go to Japan,” said Tatsuhisa Yue, 65, interviewed by AFP after a session.
More than 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki due to 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 Tatsuhisa Yue, praising a film “made in a very sincere way.”
“Even being Japanese, I found it to be much more objective than I expected,” observed another viewer, Fuyuki Ike, 48.
“Lack of images” of the victims
The film, winner of the Oscar for best film and six other statuettes, covers in three hours the key moments in the life of Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who brought the planet to the nuclear age before being attacked by doubt in the face of his creation that has become a tool of omnipotence.
In Hiroshima the feature film was awaited with some trepidation. “Is this really a movie that people (here) can stand to see?” asked Kyoko Heya, president of the city’s International Film Festival, after “Oppenheimer’s” Oscar win earlier this month.
Kyoko Heya considered it “very American-centric” and admitted to having initially felt “terrified” at the idea of showing it in Hiroshima. “Now I hope that many people see the film, because I would love 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, a 96-year-old bomb survivor and former mayor of Hiroshima, during a special screening in the city organized earlier this month.
oppenheimer It was also screened in Nagasaki, where Masao Tomonaga, 80, another “hibakusha” (bomb survivor), said he was impressed by the film.
“I thought the lack of images of atomic bomb survivors was a weakness,” said Masao Tomonaga, who was two years old at the time of the bombing and later became a researcher into radiation leukemia.
“But in reality, Oppenheimer’s statements in dozens of scenes show the shock he felt at the reality of the atomic bombing. That was enough for me.”
Source: BFM TV
