Oppenheimer, Japan's consternation over the film about the inventor of the atomic bomb: not everything can be made spectacular

The Christopher Nolan's new film dedicated to the American physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer. The scientist led the Manhattan Project in building the first nuclear device and detonated it on two Japanese cities in August 1945.

The film, in just a few weeks, became a blockbuster thanks to its daring but successful association with a film of a completely different genre and nature, Barbie. L'hashtag Barbenheimer it launched the two films into orbit and fueled a real mania in America, that of watching them both on the same day. As many as 200 Americans did so, consuming the packed lunch that cinemas had prepared for the viewing marathon.

Oppenheimer, a three-hour biopic, surpassed half a billion in receipts and became the biggest box-office hit about World War II. And it still has a long way to go.
Are you all right then? For nothing! It may happen that the film never hits theaters in Japan, the third largest cinema market after the United States and China. It must be considered that on the atomic explosion of 1945 and the events that preceded it there are two verses: the Allied one, which the film outlines very well, and the Japanese one which the film does not take into consideration except for the tenuous links with the first .

The other side of the Bomb

Japan recently celebrated the 78th anniversary of dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The huge explosion cost the lives of 210 Japanese, all civilians, while another 113 were exposed to radiation, also causing vital damage. Was the bomb really a necessity when Japan was already on its knees? "In the United States, the film has reopened the debate on the bomb and its possible nature as a war crime, writes the Washington Post". It's not in Nolan's film no mention of the victims and the immense human cost associated with the eventual outcome of the Manhattan Project. Indeed the narrative seems almost self-referential in its focus on the figure of Oppenheimer.

There is also a scene in the film that may actually offend the sensibilities of the Japanese although it certainly mirrors what really happened at Los Alamos. There is no doubt about it, given that Nolan's work is taken from the biography of the scientist written after a decade of research by two scholars, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, very scrupulous with the sources. For this accuracy and adherence to sources they were awarded the Pulitzer. The biography was also translated into Italian and published by Garzanti with the title Robert Oppenheimer, triumph and fall of a genius.

A painful step

The scene from the film I'm referring to takes place in the laboratories of the Manhattan project at Los Alamos after Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The atmosphere in the laboratory is festive and rewarding. Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) greets his cheering colleagues by saying, "It's too early to tell what the outcome of this bombing is," then launches into a cynical conclusion: "I bet, though, the Japanese didn't like it." The enormous human cost, of innocent people, of this act, albeit warlike, which took place in the poisoned climate of war, does not seem to pass through the scientist's mind in the slightest. Oppenheimer will then have second thoughts and like many other participants in the Manhattan project he will be shocked by the consequences and repercussions of their invention towards life on earth.

#NoBarbenheimer

The Japanese were also amazed at the Barbenheimer meme which, as we have seen, has combined the two films with the aim of inviting viewers to see them both. Some ways in which the postmania meme that made Barbeheimer one of the dominant trends in the United States for weeks was portrayed were unacceptable to the Japanese. For example, one post depicts Barbie (Margot Robbie) sitting on Oppenheimer's (Cillian Murphy) shoulders in front of the fire that envelops the mushroom cloud created by the Bomb. Barbie's US Twitter account reproduced the image with the comment: "It's going to be a hot summer to remember." Twitter, now X, added a footnote to the post that puts the mushroom cloud image into context: "The nature of the damage caused by atomic bombs is that mass destruction and death occurred instantaneously and indiscriminately."

The Warner Bros Fool

The involvement of Warner Bros, the producer of Barbie, in this kind of initiative has prompted some Japanese users to coin the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer which stigmatizes the casual and irresponsible behavior of having taken lightly and trivialized a dramatic and epochal event such as the mass destruction caused by atomic bombs and the suffering caused to an entire population.
The Japanese branch of Warner Bros also took action and asked the production house to "take appropriate measures" to distance itself from the unacceptable depictions posted on social media by Barbenheimer fans. The apologies from management of Warner Bros arrived early. He told Variety: “Warner Brothers is sorry for its insensitive action on social media. Sincere apologies from the studio."

Conclusion

It is true that Nolan's film glosses over the suffering of the population who have suffered the affront of the atomic bomb. A very serious, gruesome case that has not yet received the sentence it deserves, even in the light of history. However the film is not about the Bomb, but on the complex and tormented personality at the head of the team of scientists who created it. We also see how the Bomb and its consequences began to torment and tear apart the people who had helped create it, primarily the protagonist of this enterprise. Someone coming out of the cinema seems to have said "But this is a horror film!". As demonstrated by some anti-nuclear activists, such as the Japanese Tanaka Miho, the film can be a stimulus for people around the world to reflect on the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After all, even a "stupid" film can contribute to this awareness-raising action that is increasingly necessary. With the war in Ukraine, the objective of nuclear disarmament has once again become urgently topical. The drums of nuclear war are beating once again. The Japanese are perhaps the only ones who know how terrifying this drumbeat can become.

Sources:

In Japan “Oppenheimer” is causing consternation, “The Economist”, August 10, 2023
Zack Sharf, Patrick Frater, Warner Bros. Apologizes After 'Barbenheimer' Posts Spark Criticism From Studio's Japan Unit, “Variety,” August 1, 2023
Tom Murray, Will Oppenheimer get a theatrical release in Japan as controversy over Barbenheimer memes erupt?,” The Independent” August 4, 2023
Gearoid Reidy, Oppenheimer Has Reopened Debate in the US. In Japan, It's More Complex, The Washington Post,” July 25, 2023
Emily Zemler, Critics say omitting the Japanese toll makes 'Oppenheimer' 'morally half-formed', “Los Angeles Times”, August 4, 2023