by Irene Wang
HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – Screenings of “Oppenheimer,” an Oscar-winning film about the father of the atomic bomb, began in Japan on Friday, sparking mixed comments in the nuclear-armed country.
“The film is extraordinary and deserved to win an Oscar,” said Kawai, a 37-year-old Hiroshima resident who is a big fan of director Christopher Nolan.
“The film also seems to portray the atomic bomb in a flattering light, and I found it difficult to watch as someone connected to Hiroshima,” adds the official who attended the screening at a cinema located a kilometer from the Dome. of Genbaku, close to ground zero of the explosion in Hiroshima.
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“I’m not sure it’s a film that Japanese people should go see at all costs,” he adds.
Cinemas in Tokyo have posted warnings warning that watching the film could reawaken the trauma of 1945, according to images posted on social media.
“The film was worth seeing, but I was very uncomfortable with some scenes, such as Oppenheimer’s judgment in the United States at the end of the film,” explains Agemi Kanegae, who also lives in Hiroshima.
Atomic bomb survivor Teruko Yahata says she wants to see the film and hopes it will reignite the debate over nuclear weapons.
At 86 years old, the survivor explains that she has empathy for Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist portrayed in the film, a feeling shared by Rishu Kanemoto.
“Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on which the bombs were dropped, are of course victims,” explains the 19-year-old student after seeing the film. “But I think that even if the inventor (of the bombs) is one of those responsible, he is also a victim of the war.”
Christopher Nolan’s film about the life of American physicist Robert Oppenheimer won two of the most prestigious statuettes – best film, best director – during the last Oscar ceremony, on March 10. The film was a global success, grossing nearly a billion dollars (927 million euros) at the box office.
The production company Universal Pictures had postponed the release of the film in Japan, one of the main markets for Hollywood, due to the sensitivity of the subject. A release date was found after the Oscars ceremony.
In August 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing more than 200,000 people in the only nuclear attack in world history to date.
(Reporting by Irene Wang in Hiroshima; writing by Rocky Swift in Tokyo, French version Corentin Chappron, editing by Sophie Louet)
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