“As a filmmaker… You make certain choices”: Christopher Nolan Justifies Oppenheimer Not Showing the Horrific Japan Nuke Bombings

Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster Oppenheimer which is the biopic of the Father of the Atomic bomb and physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, invited the audience to deeply delve into the physicist’s contribution and work during the Manhattan Project.

Despite the triumphant success and immense commendation from fans and even acclaimed actors and directors, many suggested that Nolan could have added the aftermath of the bombing, for which the director has finally explained that he wanted the audience to watch Oppenheimer from the physicist’s perspective and how he knew the consequences of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki through radio as he was largely kept in the dark.

Christopher Nolan Justifies Not Adding Dreadful Japan Nuke Bombings

The filmmaker indisputably crafted the work in his summer blockbuster in the best way possible, from filming the movie entirely with an IMAX camera to its star-studded cast, Christopher Nolan has presented the best historical biopic on World War II ever.

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However, many including director Spike Lee believe that Nolan could have added the aftermath or clips of the horrific destruction and loss of life in Japan at the end of his movie. In a recent conversation with Kai Bird, Christopher Nolan, and Oppenheimer producer Emma Thomas via The Graduate Centre, CUNY, finally justified not adding the dreadful clips:

“As a filmmaker … you make certain choices and you have to make them as strongly and as firmly as possible and make your intentions as clear as possible. But once the film goes out in the world, it’s up to the audience to make of it what they will and get the experience from it that they will.”

The director explained the reason for not adding those consequences and significant destruction in the biopic is that he was staying true to the book that describes the story from J. Robert Oppenheimer’s perspective. The director states that the physicist was in the same position as the rest of America and witnessed the news of the bomb being dropped on Japan through the radio. Nolan’s main aim was to let the viewers watch the story through the characters’ perspective, especially from Robert Oppenheimer’s.

Christopher Nolan Made the Viewrs Use Their Imagination

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During the conversation, Kai Bird claimed that Christoper Nolan indeed succeeded in making the viewers use their imagination to understand the terrible destruction after the bombing in Japan, to which the director explained that he did it because when a film reveals too much, it doesn’t remain thrilling and engaging. He said:

“The truth is that everything to do with film and editing, and all the editorial choices you’re making, on a technical level, is as much about what you don’t show as what you do show, horror movies being the obvious example, where if you show too much of something, it’s not frightening, it’s not threatening.”

Christopher Nolan continued by stating that revealing too much reduces the fear and tension among the viewers while watching a movie and this could have happened with Oppenheimer as well if Nolan had added the horrific clips. The film focuses on how J. Robert Oppenheimer was excluded soon after the successful Trinity test and the way the U.S. government took control of the atomic bomb project.

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Watch Oppenheimer in theatres now.