Hiroshima (Japan, 1953)

The film shows the bombing of Hiroshima and the horrific aftermath following the detonation of an atomic bomb on humans for the first time in history.

While not being a huge surprise, Hiroshima is one of the saddest films ever made and leaves you absolutely gutted afterwards. It apparently makes use of over 90.000 extras (!), and is based on several testimonies told from actors who actually experienced the horrible event only eight years earlier. There's some incredible sets in the film, and the many, many actors had to stumble around barefoot on piles of rubble surrounded by flames and thousands of screaming people. Talk about a tough shoot.

The harrowing and sorrowful music melts into the scenes and gives them that extra little push to being so miserably that people who'd been present when the bomb fell said that the film captured the disaster with scary accuracy. Not that it makes the film any easier to watch but, Hiroshima makes one hell of an effort to portray that day when history took another turn for the worse and with nothing omitted shows the tragedy from the perspective of those who had to live in it. 

Genre: Drama/War

Black Rain (Japan, 1989)

Mr and Mrs Shizuma, and their niece Yasuko, make their way through the ruins of Hiroshima, just after the atomic bomb has dropped. Five years later, Yasuko is living with her aunt and uncle, and her senile grandmother, in a village containing many of the bomb survivors. Yasuko does not appear to be affected by the bomb, but the Shizuma's are worried about her marriage prospects, as she could succumb to radiation sickness at any time.

Black Rain won't cheer anyone up. It won't put a smile on your face or fill you even with a glimpse of hope. The haunting images of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb are horrific, and we are soon left to deal with the agony of the long and painful aftermath. It's a realistic portrayal of what was left of many peoples lives after an atomic bomb.

Grim and effective. Without a doubt one of the best films I've seen dealing with the Hiroshima bomb, and I'm grateful for being able to see director Shohei Imamura (The Eel) tackle this difficult subject. 

Genre: Drama