JAPAN: Following the release of Oppenheimer, moviegoers have been busy praising the direction style, Cillian Murphy’s acting, the practically shot nuclear bomb test scene, and whatnot. After all, it’s a Christopher Nolan film; such discussion is obvious.
The Nolan featurette tries to show the horror of the world’s deadliest weapon from the point of view of J. Robert Oppenheimer. However, the film fails to showcase the real terror of the World War 2 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing. At this point, the feature lags to show the effect of the atomic bomb in Japan.
In order to witness the horror that the bomb unleashed in Japan, Barefoot Gen, a 1983 anime feature, is a must-watch. Mori Masaki’s directorial war drama feature depicts World War 2 from a child’s point of view.
Amidst the success of Oppenheimer, Barefoot Gen makes it to the headlines
Based on Keiji Nakazawa’s manga of the same name, Barefoot Gen is created by a man who survived the Hiroshima bombing. The classic anime featurette didn’t shy away from the traumatic reality of the nuclear attack.
After the release of Oppenheimer, the scene of the bombing from the anime is making rounds on the internet for its picture-perfect depiction. It begins with the normal life of the citizens, and suddenly eerie music grips the background, where we are made aware that something terrible is about to happen. The colony of ants marches into the house, shocking the residents, which hints at the horror we are about to witness.
Later the scene shifts towards the protagonist, where he looks at a B-29bomber flying in the sky. It showcases the US pilots taking the aim to drop the bomb. As they carry out the attack, a white flash covers the screen with an explosion of the deadliest weapon.
Following the bombing, the anime scene shows the citizens of Hiroshima turning into ashes. At first, a little girl is shown with a balloon in her hand, whose eyes pop out, and her body turns into a corpse in the nick of time. This can be considered the most disturbing scene, which depicts how war kills the innocence of humanity.
With its release on July 21, 1983, Barefoot Gen made the Japanese audience speechless with its graphic presentation and visuals. Later, the anime bagged the attention of the worldwide audience with its US debut on June 13, 1992.
Following the impact of the first part, Barefoot Gen also received a sequel in 1986.
Also Read: Oppenheimer: Nolan’s Thriller is High on Performance, Deals with Horror of Atomic Bomb
