Hiroshima-Nagasaki, August 1945
Erik Barnouw, 1970
Producer, Erik Barnouw; camera, Akira Iwasaki; writing, Paul Ronder; editing, Paul Ronder, Geof Bartz; music effects, Linea Johnson, Terrill Schukraft
Narrated by Kazuko Oshima and Paul Ronder
This documentary is a compilation of silent black and white film footage shot by nine Japanese cameramen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly after the U.S. Airforce dropped the first atomic bombs in early August 1945. Due to the unmitigated nature of this documentary record of the aftermath of the atomic blasts, the film was not released for twenty-five years. Although the majority of the footage was filmed by Japanese cameramen, an English-language voice-over narration has been added, along with a few scenes from American sources. A narrator possibly (Robert Oppenheimer) relates facts about the creation and design of the atomic bomb. We see a Japanese survivor relating her personal experience of the bombing, as well as images of the wounded, and the burn patterns left by the kimonos that burn victims were wearing at the time of the explosion. The intensity of the atomic blast meant that the patterns of the kimonos worn by survivors were transfered to the victim's skin by the flash of atomic heat.