by Hal Erickson
synopsis
It is altogether fitting that the first major film about the bombing of Hiroshima should emerge from a Japanese studio. The atomic bomb is dropped at the beginning of the film; the remaining 80 minutes deals with the horrible aftermath. The episodic screenplay deals with too many victims to offer a focussed point of view on the event. The only character with whom the audience can identify for any extended period of time is a young boy who managed to survive the bombing, but who has been orphaned and is thus subject to scrutiny and persecution by the harried authorities. The film closes with a "ten years later" coda, as the now-grown-up boy reflects upon his life since that fateful August day in 1945.
