Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023) • Hacker News Board

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#31

Post by caf » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 12:55 AM UTC

jebarker wrote: post #13

frozenbit wrote: post #7

It’s been posted on HN before, but if this topic interests you, John Hersey’s famous reporting on the aftermath at Hiroshima (entitled “Hiroshima”) is worth reading. It’s essentially a short book, but the accounts laid out in the story make the impersonal tragedy into something that’s tangible. It should be required reading.

In a similar vein, going to Hiroshima and the Peace Memorial Museum there was a life changing experience for me.

There is currently an additional special exhibition on there as well, containing first-hand accounts from survivors who were high school students at the time.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#32

Post by cypherpunks01 » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:00 AM UTC

Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan?

I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many millions of people.

It could have been shown without losing any narration context at all, in the scene where the protagonist is shown slides of the destruction scenes, and the camera only shows him looking away. The director didn't need to force the audience to look away too.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#33

Post by 725686 » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:05 AM UTC

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #32

Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan? I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many mil…

I was so bored, that I wasn't bothered by it. I love Christopher Nolan's other movies though.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#34

Post by xvedejas » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:05 AM UTC

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #32

Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan? I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many mil…

No, it didn't bother me; Oppenheimer himself never saw the devastation, he only could imagine it. It seems suiting for what the film was doing, to focus on his inner emotional state.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#35

Post by voltaireodactyl » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:06 AM UTC

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #32

Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan? I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many mil…

I for one was not bothered — the film up to that point had exclusively portrayed Oppenheimer‘s subjective experience in life. To showcase the footage you’re talking about would have meant showing events Oppenheimer did not see, but was certainly able to imagine enough that they affected him deeply — which is what WAS depicted in place of the footage.

While I understand wanting that outside perspective included within Oppenheimer to more fully reflect the actual historic events, I recognize that Oppenheimer was a film telling the story of one man’s internal perspective on events, and so including scenes like you suggest would have diluted and weakened that central premise and through line.

That being said: I am biased in that I do not expect artistic works to reflect a complete reality, but just the reality they choose to explore — I can certainly understand different points of view, especially with regard to such a monumental and tragic real life event.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#36

Post by mango7283 » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:07 AM UTC

aaron695 wrote: post #4

https://archive.is/IwLEw But, but, but, I've seen the movie "Threads (1984)" so now I'm an expert and it's not possible. Also how come all the children in the area can still speak, in "Threads" children mutate and can't speak like a reverse Spiderman. This seems like Doomer-denial fake news, the movie Threads (1984) was the real one.

I trust one recognises that a huge difference between a post WW2 and a Threads post Ww3 situation is that in the former the United States is at its peak and regearing its industry to rebuild Japan and Europe while in the latter the US is also a nuclear wasteland...

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#37

Post by spinoutx » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:08 AM UTC

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #32

Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan? I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many mil…

I can understand the artistic choice to portray everything from Oppenheimer's mind / point of view and to not actually show the devastation, but like you I was bothered by how it was done with the bomb drop and also the complete lack of portraying the Nazi threat. Oppenheimer lived the entire war at home and never actually saw the bomb dropped. But it seemed disingenuous to me to show the power of his imagination when contemplating the universe so powerfully at the beginning of the film, then never portray his comprehension of the Nazi threat or the devastation his weapon would have caused. The closest they got was him imagining it in the room with the crowd, but that hardly did it justice in my opinion. That was critical context in many of the scientists' decisions: 27,000 people were dying PER DAY during World War 2 (on average). How you can portray the story of the atomic bomb without that setting (not to mention emphasizing the fear that the Axis would get the bomb first) is kind of beyond me.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#38

Post by cypherpunks01 » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:09 AM UTC

xvedejas wrote: post #34

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #32

Was anyone else bothered by how Oppenheimer declined to show even a single scene of the devastation that was caused by dropping nuclear weapons on Japan? I otherwise liked the film, but I thought it was wrong to hide it from viewers. The bombing was the central plot point of the whole film. It would have been different if it was a new director, or surprise hit or something, but Nolan knew it would be seen by many mil…

No, it didn't bother me; Oppenheimer himself never saw the devastation, he only could imagine it. It seems suiting for what the film was doing, to focus on his inner emotional state.

He was shown it, with slides in the debrief scene. He chose to look away, and that's all the camera shows.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#39

Post by xvedejas » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:15 AM UTC

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #38

xvedejas wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it didn't bother me; Oppenheimer himself never saw the devastation, he only could imagine it. It seems suiting for what the film was doing, to focus on his inner emotional state.

He was shown it, with slides in the debrief scene. He chose to look away, and that's all the camera shows.

Right, I mean to say he didn't see it in high definition / in person, as it sounded like you were suggesting the movie should have done.

Re: Tsutomu Yamaguchi – A man who survived both atomic bombings (2023)

#40

Post by keyle » Tue, Jun 18, 2024, 1:17 AM UTC

gnat wrote: post #11

"Sorry, this content is not available in your region." No biography.com for you, New Zealand. Welcome to Aotearoa, where history is doomed to be repeated!

Same here.

"Let's have a dot com and block large parts of the world from accessing it"