"Oppenheimer" on the screens of Japan... the country of the two cities affected by the atomic bomb

 From Friday, the Japanese will be able to see the award-winning film "Oppenheimer", but its showing on their screens comes eight months after its release in the rest of the world, as it deals with a topic that evokes painful memories in the archipelago, as it deals with the biography of the inventor of the atomic bomb.

The feature film, directed by Christopher Nolan, was shown in different parts of the world in the summer of 2023, coinciding with the release of another film that attracted a wide audience, "Barbie" by director Greta Gerwig.

Memes circulated by social media users and images of the two films shocked public opinion in Japan, the only country to have two atomic bombs dropped on two of its cities in August 1945 during World War II.

No official reason was given for the delay in the release of "Oppenheimer" in Japan, which reinforced the impression that the sensitivities the film might arouse would prevent it from being shown in the Asian country.

In front of one of Tokyo's main cinemas on Friday, there was only a small poster announcing the existence of this giant film, which had a budget of one hundred million dollars and had previously grossed more than 960 million dollars in various parts of the world, according to the specialized website BoxOfficeMojo.

"It was not out of the question that a movie about the invention of the atomic bomb would be shown in Japan," Tatsuhisa Yu, 65, told AFP at the end of the screening.

More than 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki as a result of the two American atomic bombs dropped on these two cities. A few days later, on August 15, 1945, Japan agreed to unconditional surrender.

"I think the distributors avoided releasing it in the summer because everyone in Japan remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki at that time," Yu added, noting that the movie is "preoccupied with a lot of honesty."

Another viewer, Fuyuki Ike, 48, said, "Even as a boy, I found it much more objective than I expected.

The film, which won seven awards, including one for best film, covers in three hours the key moments in the life of Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who introduced the world to the atomic age and hastened the end of World War II, before remorse and guilt overwhelmed him after his invention became a tool. Deadly destructive.

In Hiroshima, the prospect of showing the film was met with some trepidation. "Is this really a movie that people [here] can afford to see?" Kyoko Haya, director of the city's International Film Festival, said after Oppenheimer won an Oscar earlier this month.

Noting that the film "focuses a lot on the American side," she admitted that at first she was "very scared" of the idea of showing it in Hiroshima.

She added, "I hope now that many people will see the film, because I am happy that this film will make Hiroshima, Nagasaki and nuclear weapons a topic of discussion.

During a special screening in Hiroshima in early March, former mayor Takashi Hiraoka, 96, a bomb survivor, said the film "could have included more expressive descriptions and scenes of the atrocities caused by atomic weapons.

"Oppenheimer" was also shown in Nagasaki, where Masao Tomonaga, 80, a bomb survivor, said he liked the film.

"I thought the lack of images of atomic bomb survivors (in the movie) was a weakness," said Tomonaga, who was two years old at the time of the bombing and later became a researcher conducting studies on radiation-induced leukemia.

But, he added, "In fact, Oppenheimer's statements in dozens of scenes show the shock he felt at what actually led him to drop the two atomic bombs, and that was enough for me."