Oppenheimer was the big winner at the Oscars as it swept most of the major categories including Best Picture. Still, as celebrated as the film is, it drew criticism for not depicting the consequences the A-Bomb had when two were dropped on Japan.
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Director Christopher Nolan’s defense is the film was told mostly from the perspective of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who only heard about the aftermath on the radio or via the press like everybody else in the West. “To depart from Oppenheimer’s experience would betray the terms of the storytelling,” he told NBC News correspondent Chuck Todd.
“He learned about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the radio — the same as the rest of the world,” Nolan added. “That, to me, was a shock… Everything is his experience, or my interpretation of his experience. Because as I keep reminding everyone, it’s not a documentary. It is an interpretation. That’s my job.”
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Godzilla Minus One also walked away with an award on Oscar Night for Best Visual Effects, and though that film explores the aftermath of World War II and the use of nuclear weapons in a unique way, its director Takashi Yamazaki doesn’t quite see the picture as a response to Oppenheimer.
He doesn’t believe he has made the proper film in response yet and he would like to. “As a person of Japanese ancestry and descent, my response to ‘Oppenheimer’ [is that] I would like to dedicate a different film to that when that day comes,” Yamazaki answered via NBC when asked his thoughts on Nolan’s biopic.
Commenting on the two movie’s parallel success, he said the “juxtaposition was not intentional.” Yamazaki explained, “As we were making the film, the state of the world and the geopolitical scene has changed quite a bit. It almost feels fated that both of these films were released in the same year.”
As a metaphor for the dangers of using atomic armaments – and likewise, some argue, a metaphor for American might and power – Godzilla has been linked to Oppenheimer and WW2 since the character’s inception (no pun intended).
Minus One is the 37th installment featuring the kaiju, keeping him far and above any character as far as appearances in a film series. It also marks his first time winning an Academy Award.
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