Review 1 (Yuki)

Cinema studies and cultural studies (factors contributed the film)

Throughout this movie, music made the scenes very peaceful. The music was slow and very kind. If there is no line in the beginning of the movie, "should humans be erased like fog just the same as my mother and father?", audience wouldn't think the movie would end in such tragedy.

Most of the factors in this movie are dramatic truth. The vertile truth we can find is time records and image of A-bomb. Some of the images of buildings in Nagasaki is based on facts but since it was destroyed by the bomb, producers must have made imitation of the building. Also, the "red paper" to inform draft was actually used. On the internet, I have read that the line "Should human be erased like a fog just the same as my mother and father" came from actual survivor of the bomb, but there is no detail like who said it and so on.

The time records is vertile truth. I am not sure if this image is real A-bomb dropped in Nagasaki. I could not find out.


The image of Urakami Tensyu Do (Urakami Cathedral), located 500m (1640ft.) northeast from center of the explosion. Urakami is the name of the place. It can also be translated as St. Mary's Cathedral, and it was known as the biggest cathedral in East of that time, until it was destroyed by A-Bomb. No one in the cathedral survived. Its wreckage and melted statue of Mary are one of the most famous thing to see in Nagasaki Peace Museum.
Cathedral was rebuilt in 1959, but its appearance is different from original. Since there wasn't and technology of color animation, this image must be the imitation of original cathedral.

This is the real record of Urakami Cathedral after it was destroyed by Atomic Bomb.
Photo by AIHARA Hidetsugu, in his photographic collection "Genbaku wo Mitsumeru" (Looking at Atomic Bomb).
Taken in Jan. 7th, 1946.

See: World War II Database

Around the time this movie was made (1988), Japan was in the middle of Bubble economy. In one of Kuroki's interviews, he said that producers could gather big amount of money for the production. In addition, Toho (the industry) is one of the biggest film industry in Japan. It convinces why he could choose those famous actors (most of the actors in the movie were very famous and popular in Japan.)

In Kuroki's interviews, he said his experience of living in colony and losing his friends in aerial bombing, had alwasy been the biggest memory in his life. I think this experiences in his childhood contributed his will to make films about A-Bomb. When making the film one before "Tomorrow - Ashita", he had an opportunity to talk with hibakusya (the survivor of the bomb) from Nagasaki, and it gave him shock. He knew of Inoue, the writer, and approched that he wanted to make a movie on Inoue's book, "Ashita". In his later years, He made three films on A-bomb and in all of the three, main characters are ordinary citizens. I think he wanted to pay attention to individuals who experienced war, perhaps this is why his movies are called Trilogy of Requiem, for those who died in the war.

Some of the critics say that his earlier works are experimental. As he became old he started to talk about his childhood experience. Critics say that these films on war were what he really wanted to do for his life.