Extract
[...] And it is in this that lies the weakness of Christopher Nolan's long film: he lack of pedagogy and does not provide the desired or announced effects by the director. The criticisms of the press and the public illustrate a nuanced stance towards the film's success. 2. French press criticisms and public reactions The French press has been largely laudatory towards the film Oppenheimer even though many gaps have been listed by the critics60. The positive reviews particularly focus on the aestheticism of the film. [...]
[...] But he allowed himself with this work to recall that Germany also had civilian losses, and in large numbers. His book, incidentally, was a great success in Germany as soon as it was published42. In 2003, a German historian, Jörg Friedrich, attempted to go further by publishing a book titled The Fire (The Fire), which for the first time, in its entirety, deals with the Allied bombings between 1943 and 1945 on German cities. However, it attracted criticism from British historians, offended to see their army and Churchill accused of war crimes43. [...]
[...] However, no view of Hiroshima or Nagasaki is shown and the radioactive fallout is barely mentioned. This is an omission (no doubt intentional) by the director.and in its final act, the film lingers too much on depicting the difficulties faced by Oppenheimer in the face of the American administration, even if the transcription of the hushed atmosphere between politicians and military personnel is successful, with numerous mentions of the historical context such as the Potsdam Conference of July-August 1945. The feature film thus wanders into political intrigues and conspiracies and one loses sight of the central subject of the film, which is the atomic bomb and its fallout. [...]
[...] From then on, the German memory could evoke a certain concern, or even mistrust towards the Germans in the face of their past and their guilt. The collective German memory oscillated between the recognition of responsibility for the crimes committed by the Nazis and a willingness to recognize the status of victim regarding German civilians during World War II. 2. The Germans' claim to the status of victim The memory of the bombings in Germany has taken a more complex trajectory than in France, sparking numerous debates, and political and ideological divergences on the subject, mainly due to the separation of the country after the war and this, for nearly forty-five years. [...]
[...] » Certain critics, on the other hand, are less indulgent. The critic of the Inrockuptibles, Jean-Marc Lalanne, a habitual defender of Christopher Nolan's films, was disappointed by the film: « Nolan doesn't really have a point of view on Oppenheimer. There is really a disappearance of the author, there is nothing intimate, nothing inhabited.62 » Furthermore, the critic laments the director's attempt to « to compensate for the complexity of the feat with an extremely cumbersome array of special effects. The film chokes the viewer with its abundance of effects and it doesn't really manage to find its necessity inside63. [...]
