{"id":44311,"date":"2023-10-17T03:35:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T11:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=44311"},"modified":"2023-10-17T03:35:10","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T11:35:10","slug":"spike-lee-on-whats-missing-in-oppenheimer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/10\/17\/spike-lee-on-whats-missing-in-oppenheimer\/","title":{"rendered":"Spike Lee on What’s Missing in Oppenheimer<\/I>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission from Greg Mitchell\u2019s newsletter Oppenheimer: From Hiroshima to Hollywood<\/a>.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

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It was good to see Spike Lee offer this belated criticism\/commentary<\/a> on Christopher Nolan\u2019s Oppenheimer <\/em>last week, even if cloaked in \u201cmassive\u201d respect. Of course it is a point I have been making here<\/a> (and here<\/a> and much more<\/a>) since viewing a preview and starting this newsletter back in mid-July:<\/p>\n

Lee also called Oppenheimer a \u201cgreat film\u201d and Nolan \u201ca massive filmmaker,\u201d revealing that he showed Nolan\u2019s World War II epic Dunkirk in the class he teaches at NYU.<\/em><\/p>\n

With the caveat that \u201cthis is not a criticism, it\u2019s a comment,\u201d Lee said, \u201cI would like to add some more minutes about what happened to the Japanese people. People got vaporized. Many years later, people are radioactive.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like he didn\u2019t have power,\u201d Lee said of Nolan, who had three hours to work with, he points out. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, I could merely declare that all future screenings and streaming be followed by this epilogue: My own recent documentary <\/a>Atomic Cover-up<\/a><\/em> which does show \u201cwhat happened to the Japanese people\u201d including the a graphic depiction of a \u201cvaporized\u201d victim shot by the U.S. Army in 1945. (The film is currently available for free via Kanopy and coming to PBS next month.) Perhaps Nolan will add \u201cextras\u201d to the streaming version.<\/p>\n

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After posting here almost daily for many weeks, I have slacked off this month. One reason: what I perceive as disappointing public reaction to whatever warnings about current nuclear dangers that appear in the movie. I warned here from the outset that the film\u2019s weak handling of the decision to use the bomb against two cities, killing 200,000 (thr vast majority civilians), and aftermath there, and vague handling of radiation hazards, then and now, and \u201cfirst-strike\u201d nuclear policies remaining today, might result in the movie having no \u201clegs\u201d in terms of driving a new reckoning on our nuclear threat.<\/p>\n

From what I\u2019ve seen, my fears have been realized. Well, we did get a mediocre new U2 song<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s where you come in: Let me know in Comments if you agree? Maybe you have seen new initiatives, poll results, local activism and national organizing. I charted here early on one quick positive reaction: new media and politico attention to \u201cdownwinders,\u201d even progress on legislation and getting new money to victims of our nuclear testing in the southwest. But very, very little since then. Certainly no new \u201cantinuclear movement” akin to what happened 40 years ago in the U.S. and around the world.<\/p>\n

And now, once again, new nuclear tension and dangers arising from a possible wider war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

So: Let me know your thoughts on this. Oppenheimer<\/em> will be streaming soon and reaching millions of new viewers, and then awards season hits, but I\u2019d be shocked if that will mean much, as its moment for wide influence seems to have passed\u2026.<\/p>\n

Young Bob, \u201cHard Rain,\u201d 60 years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n