In Japan, ‘Oppenheimer’ suffers the atomic fallout of Christopher Nolan’s one-sided creative vision

From Hollywood to Hiroshima, Oppenheimer has been the talk of the town since its premiere in Japan this weekend, eight months after it first released in the United States.

Nestled less than a kilometre from the epicentre of the cataclysmic first atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the halls of Hatchoza cinema relived the harrowing legacy of 1945, this weekend. The long-awaited arrival of Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture winner on Japanese soil, eight months after its American debut, has sparked a variety of reactions across the Land of the Rising Sun.

At a film festival in Hiroshima earlier this month, Kyoko Heya, the president of the fest, seemed terrified over the prospects of screening a film of the kind in the city. “Is this really a movie that people in Hiroshima can bear to watch?”, Heya told the Japan Times.

For many, the film’s nuanced portrayal of the titular “father of the atomic bomb,” was both captivating and contentious. Cillian Murphy’s Oscar-winning performance delved into the revolutionary physicist’s moral quandaries surrounding the use of nuclear weapons during World War II, and received praise for his introspective examination of a complex historical figure. Yet, it was the glaring absence of explicit depictions of the human suffering inflicted by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that drew ire from some quarters.

“Of course, this is an amazing film which deserves to win the Academy Awards. But the film also depicts the atomic bomb in a way that seems to praise it,” a 37-year-old Hiroshima resident told Reuters, capturing the sentiment of many.

Takashi Hiraoka, a 96-year-old former mayor of Hiroshima who bore witness to the horrors of the atomic bomb, told the Asahi Shimbun, “The film was made in a way to validate the conclusion that the atomic bomb was used to save the lives of Americans”.

The omission of visceral imagery depicting the devastation wrought upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki left a palpable void for those who had hoped for a more comprehensive portrayal of the human toll of nuclear warfare, etched into the collective memory of its citizens. Nolan had previously defended this contentious creative choice by arguing against a departure from storytelling perspective. “He (Oppenheimer) learned about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the radio — the same as the rest of the world”, Nolan told NBC earlier last year.

This perceived lack of accountability also resonated with more than a few. “Oppenheimer created the atomic bomb, which means he made this world a very scary place. Even if he did not intend to kill many people, he cannot be seen as completely unaccountable”, Yu Sato, a student at Hiroshima City University told the Japan Times.