Worldhistory News

"Japanese Reactions to 'Oppenheimer' Premiere: Praise and Discomfort"

The film Oppenheimer, which premiered in Japan eight months after its US release, has received mixed reviews from Hiroshima survivors and audiences. While some praised its portrayal of J Robert Oppenheimer's moral crisis, others criticized its omission of the human misery caused by the atomic bombings. Many survivors had hoped the film would acknowledge the suffering unleashed by the bombings, but some found Oppenheimer's portrayal of the physicist's shock at the reality of the atomic bombing to be sufficient. There are calls for a future film from a Japanese perspective to provide a more comprehensive account of the bombings and their aftermath.