Oppenheimer, the Academy Award-winning biopic, finally premieres in Japan.
Oppenheimer, the Academy Award-winning biopic on J. Robert Oppenheimer, popularly known as the father of the atomic bomb, finally premiered in Japan on Friday. The film’s debut in Japan, where two nuclear bombs killed hundreds of thousands of civilians nearly eight decades ago, came over eight months after its global release.
The delay in screening the film in Japan was due to its worldwide opening in July, which was only weeks before the anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, occurring on August 6 and August 9, respectively, during the final days of World War II.
According to AFP, the premiere of Oppenheimer in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district on a rainy Friday morning was a subdued affair, with few movie-goers in line for the film’s first screening.
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Last year in Japan, viral “Barbenheimer” memes sparked anger online. Critics of the film argued that the film does not show the harm caused by the bombs.
“There could have been much more description and depiction of the horror of atomic weapons,” bomb survivor and former Hiroshima mayor Takashi Hiraoka, 96, said at a special screening earlier this month.
Bomb survivor Masao Tomonaga, 80, had a different perspective on the film. After watching it at a preview event in Nagasaki, he said, “I had thought the film’s lack of… images of atomic bomb survivors was a weakness. But in fact, Oppenheimer’s lines in dozens of scenes showed his shock at the reality of the atomic bombing. That was enough for me.”
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The film revolves around J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American theoretical physicist, and his team of scientists as they spent years developing the first atomic bomb as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project.
Directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer received critical acclaim, winning seven Oscars, including Best Picture, and grossing over $950 million worldwide.
(With inputs from agencies)
