Six years after the atomic bombing of 06 August 1945, the school teacher Takako Ishikawa returns to Hiroshima on her vacation to visit friends and to honor her parents that died in the bombing. Takako was raised by her uncle and aunt. While in her hometown she stays with her friend, Natsue Morikawa, who has become infertile due to the side effect of the A-bomb. While walking along the destroyed city, she sees a former family friend, Iwakichi, who worked with her father, and is almost blind and has become a beggar.
Children of Hiroshima is not for the faint-hearted. It's such a dark and bleak portrayal of post-war Japan that it gets under your skin and makes you beg for some slim light and the end of the tunnel. Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba, Kuroneko) directed it with the economic help from Japan Teachers Union who wanted a film based on first-person testimonies, though they were in the end unsatisfied by the end result and wanted more political criticism and less focus on personal stories and the struggle of a few individuals. In my opinion, Shindo made the wiser choice in telling a story about how the bomb affected the people on a much more focused and relatable level.
The music, made by Akira Ifukube who later would go on to write iconic tunes for the Godzilla-franchise, further deepen the somber atmosphere with a heartbreaking and grim soundtrack.
Genre: Drama
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