“Oppenheimer” remains without a release date in Japan on the anniversary of the atomic bomb

“Openheimer”the new film by the famous British director Christopher Nolan and which tells the story of the man known as the “father of the atomic bomb”, still has no release date in Japan, due to criticism from viewers and days before the anniversary of the first nuclear bombing.

“Oppenheimer” has already been released in theaters in nearly fifty countries -where it has been acclaimed by the public and critics-, while many others have release dates scheduled for this August.

Japan, however, has not yet confirmed when the film could reach its theaters, with some local distributors claiming that they are still waiting to see what is the reception it receives internationally, something common in the Asian country for “blockbusters”. .

Foreign films are often released in Japan, a country with a large local film industry, months or even up to a year later than in the rest of the world, allowing theaters to opt for smaller releases and in a smaller number. smaller theaters if the film does not finish working in other countries.

This could be the case of “Oppenheimer”, however, some experts believe that the Japanese distributors would be waiting for the anniversary of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to pass, which occurred on August 6 and 9, 1945 respectively. , considering it in bad taste to talk about a possible release of the film before these important dates.

“Oppenheimer” tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American theoretical physicist of German origin considered the “father of the atomic bomb” for his prominent participation in the Manhattan Project, and that he never expressed regret for the manufacture of this weapon, although he did for the death of civilians.

“Japan, as a country that suffered from atomic bombing, has the right to evaluate this work on the topic of developing the atomic bomb,” explains the writer Akihiko Reizei, in an opinion piece for Newsweek magazine, who also considers that extensive historical research has been carried out in the production of the film.

Meanwhile, other Japanese users of the X social network (formerly known as Twitter) believe that the film should be shown in Japan as it “narrates historical events with due consideration and care.”

“As someone born in Hiroshima, I have a lot of thoughts about it, but I am strongly against the boycott movement on screening. I think it’s natural for people to express their feelings after seeing the film, or rather, to guarantee freedom of criticism once it’s made public.”Said a user of said social network.

Other users, however, said that it would be in bad taste for the premiere to take place in August, coinciding with the anniversary of the atomic bombings and given the concern that Nolan’s film could idealize the figure of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The United States launched the first nuclear attack on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and three days later dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s capitulation on August 15 and ending World War II. World.

It is estimated that some 210,000 people lost their lives in both cities due to the bombing, which also left 150,000 injured and humanitarian and environmental consequences decades after the event.

Japan has an extensive filmography on the consequences of these bombings, including classics such as “The Children of Hiroshima” (Kaneto Shindo, 1952), “Hiroshima” (Hideo Sekigawa, 1953) or the most recent animated films “The Tomb of the fireflies” (Isao Takahata, 1990) or “In this corner of the world” (Sunao Katabuchi, 2016), all of them from the perspective of the victims and the horror experienced.

With information from EFE