How Is Japan's Nuclear Attack Connected To Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer?

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan's much-awaited film Oppenheimer is all set to release in theaters worldwide on July 21, 2023. The film is based on American theoretical physicist, Julius Robert Oppenheimer, who built the most destructive weapon known to man and then advocated against nuclear weapons.

Oppenheimer is often credited as the "Father of Atomic Bomb". The upcoming film has brought back into focus the American scientist and how and why he developed the atomic bomb during World War II.

Japan's Nuclear Attack Connection With Oppenheimer

The physicist was not in favor of using the atomic bomb in a nuclear attack on Japan and was said to be distraught when it was used not once but twice.

Oppenheimer developed the atomic bomb as a part of his Manhattan Project. The US government project aimed to develop a nuclear weapon before the Germans could do so.

The atomic bomb was used in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the US on August 6, 1945. The second atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the US on August 9, 1945. The nuclear holocaust ended World War II.

In an interview post the nuclear attack, Oppenheimer had quoted a line belonging to Bhagavad Gita, which says, "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds."

He had reportedly said, "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed (after the nuclear attack), a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince (Arjuna) that he should do his duty, and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form, and says 'Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds'."

Actor Cillian Murphy plays the titular role in the film. The the three-hour historical epic is set during World War II, when he understood that testing the atomic bomb would ignite the atmosphere and destroy the world, yet he pushed the button anyway.