To be fair, in the actual article he does call Oppenheimer a "great movie".
Oppenheimer - Industry/Celebrity Response and Buzz
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Yeah i disagree with Spike but this isnt such a bad take either, i understand the viewpoint (it is strange though for one with such media literacy as Spike, to have such a basic take)
we have plenty of media, very famous at that depicting the horrors of the bombs, and from the culture that suffered them nonetheless, Chris did right in choosing to tell another story and one we really needed telling, this is a movie about where such horrors can emerge from, not from some super villain in a liar, but from very smart people who thought they where doing something necessary and maybe even the right thing, and then taken control of by politicians, and we have to be reminded of that.
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I respectfully disagree
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I think showing the event, inherently, makes it a different story. A story that I hope gets told some time in the future, but nonetheless a different story.
Full quoteQ: Any films you’ve seen lately that are inspiring you?
Spike Lee: Well, you know, Scorsese, that’s my guy. “Killers of the Flower Moon” is a great film. That Native American woman, Lily Gladstone, she’s winning an Oscar. And I don’t think that’s a supporting role. I think that’s a leading role. She’s got my vote.
Q: She’s actually submitted herself for lead actress.
A: Good! She should not go for the okey-doke.
And Chris Nolan with “Oppenheimer,” you know, he’s a massive filmmaker. Great film. I showed [“Dunkirk”] in my class. And this is not a criticism. It’s a comment. How long was that film [“Oppenheimer”]?
Q: Three hours.
A: If it’s three hours, I would like to add some more minutes about what happened to the Japanese people. People got vaporized. Many years later, people are radioactive. It’s not like he didn’t have power. He 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. Understand, this is all love. And I bet he could tell me some things he would change about “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X.”
thats fair enough really, but yeah i still disagree and its all good.
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I would not change the film but I can see Spike Lee's point.
However, a point could also be made that the film wants to convey the idea that the deaths and suffering of all these people was an abstract thing for the people who made the decision to drop the bombs and sadly for many people afterwards. In the film, Oppenheimer even makes the case for the bombs ending the war in the Pacific up until Roosevelt makes the decision to drop them. The point is, Oppenheimer, as depicted in the film, didn't consider the implications of what he and the other scientists worked on until after the US dropped the bombs and caused all that death and suffering. His guilt over what he enabled is what drives the rest of the film.
However, a point could also be made that the film wants to convey the idea that the deaths and suffering of all these people was an abstract thing for the people who made the decision to drop the bombs and sadly for many people afterwards. In the film, Oppenheimer even makes the case for the bombs ending the war in the Pacific up until Roosevelt makes the decision to drop them. The point is, Oppenheimer, as depicted in the film, didn't consider the implications of what he and the other scientists worked on until after the US dropped the bombs and caused all that death and suffering. His guilt over what he enabled is what drives the rest of the film.
Martin Scorsese interview: ‘Barbie and Oppenheimer’s success offers hope for a different cinema to emerge'
https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertai ... 44345.html
https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertai ... 44345.html
You recently said that “we need to save cinema” from comic-book movies by backing individual voices. But doesn't the success of Barbenheimer show that we're actually getting there?
I do think that the combination of Oppenheimer and Barbie was something special. It seemed to be, I hate that word, but the perfect storm. It came about at the right time. And the most important thing is that people went to watch these in a theatre. And I think that's wonderful.
I haven't seen the films yet. I love Chris Nolan's work. Margot Robbie, I must say, started with me from The Wolf of Wall Street. Rodrigo Prieto (cinematographer), after finishing Killers of the Flower Moon, went on to shoot Barbie. So it's all in the family (laughs).
The way it fit perfectly - a film with such entertainment value, purely with the bright colours - and a film with such severity and strength, and pretty much about the danger of the end to our civilisation - you couldn't have more opposite films to work together. It does offer some hope for a different cinema to emerge, different from what's been happening in the last 20 years, aside from the great work being done in independent cinema. I always get upset by that, the independent films being relegated to ‘indies.’ Films that only a certain kind of people would like. Just show them on a tiny screen somewhere.
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I really hope Scorsese gets a chance to see it in 15/70 IMAX (AMC Lincoln Square) if he hasn't already since this interview was conducted.
Tom Shone talks about Oppenheimer (around 25')
https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/w ... 0632529308
https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/w ... 0632529308
