Once again Christopher Nolan cemented his position in the hearts of his audience and fans with his 2023 summer blockbuster Oppenheimer. Focused on the life and work of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who developed the atomic bomb that ultimately wreaked havoc on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nolan created one hell of a movie.
Nonetheless, despite creating a historical epic, Christopher Nolan received director Spike Lee’s critical opinion on the movie. Sharing his comments with The Washington Post, Lee mentioned how Oppenheimer should have included the aftermath of the atomic blast on the Japanese people.
Spike Lee Shared His Critical Opinion on Oppenheimer
It’s been more than two months since Christopher Nolan’s historical epic Oppenheimer hit the theatres and turned into a blockbuster. Featuring Cillian Murphy in the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director focused on the works of the physicist and unraveled the raw and messy created when science meets politics.
However, although the movie was hailed by audiences and critics alike, director Spike Lee claimed that Oppenheimer strategically avoided featuring the aftermath of the atomic blast on Japanese people. Speaking with The Washington Post, the director began by stating that his opinions are not criticisms but mere comments.
“[Nolan] is a massive filmmaker… and this is not a criticism. It’s a comment. If [‘Oppenheimer’] is three hours, I would like to add some more minutes about what happened to the Japanese people. People got vaporized.”
Since the movie was already three hours long, Spike Lee claimed that Christopher Nolan could have added a few more minutes and shown the atrocities of the atomic blast. Throwing the spotlight on the Japanese people, the director mentioned that Nolan could have portrayed the whole truth.
Should Christopher Nolan Have Shown The Aftermath?
Digging deeper into the political side of Oppenheimer, director Spike Lee stated that Christopher Nolan had the power to show the aftermath, but simply chose to avoid it. Speaking further in the interview, Lee thereafter mentioned how the historical epic could have ended the film with a Japanese perspective.
“Many years later, people are radioactive. It’s not like he didn’t have power. He tells studios what to do. I would have loved to have the end of the film maybe show what it did, dropping those two nuclear bombs on Japan.”
Although it’s quite understandable why Spike Lee wanted an unbiased movie about the development of the atomic bomb, as well as the aftermath, it’s highly argumentative if it would have been the right thing to show. Because no matter how important it is to address the destruction, atrocities are hard to watch, and often censored.
Nolan’s 2023 blockbuster already featured how self-serving leaders are awarded unbridled power, and how wars and governments end up corrupting and contaminating science. Further, adding the aftermath would have undoubtedly been the right thing to do, but Christopher Nolan certainly had a different vision for his project.
Oppenheimer is available in theatres near you.
Source: The Washington Post
