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The Last Atomic Bomb
by Robert Richter and Kathleen Sullivan
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""An emotional sledgehammer but not a diatribe...deeply affecting.""
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Video Librarian: ***(3 stars) "A worthwhile effort to understand an event that should never be repeated. Recommended." The New York Times review: "As Iraq devolves into chaos, and North Korea strives to join the nuclear nations, the exhortations of "The Last Atomic Bomb" ring with an uncomfortable currency. Directed by the veteran documentarian Robert Richter, the movie is an unvarnished emotional plea for nuclear disarmament voiced primarily by Sakue Shimohira, a survivor of Nagasaki. Just 10 when a plutonium bomb exploded over that city on Aug. 9, 1945, Ms. Shimohira now devotes hereself to disseminating her harrowing story to world leaders and schoolchildren alike. A tiny, tireless woman reinforced by tragedy, she epitomizes the persuasive power of oral history, and the film uses her to frame a remarkable collection of declassified films and photographs. As a 1946 Mass in a bombed-out Nagasaki cathedral gives way to a United States Navy propaganda film, and her horrific images of blast and radiation victims dissolve into a victory newsreel filled with cheering crowds, it's impossible to remain detached. The film is an emotional sledgehammer but not a diatribe; its images speak for themselves. Via interviews with historians and government officials, "The Last Atomic Bomb" touches on the United States' reasons for using the bomb, the restrictions imposed on the American press concerning information about its aftereffects and the Japanese discimination against "mushroom cloud victims." Its star, however, is Ms. Shimohira, a woman determined to use her past to change our present." ======== The Last Atomic Bomb challenges assumptions as it re-lives the 1945 nuclear bombing of Nagasaki from the rarely seen perspective of a survivor. The survivor, Sakue Shimohira, shares her devastating yet inspirational life with a holocaust survivor and with today's students carrying on her legacy. One of the film's most powerful moments is when Mrs. Shimohira describes her sister's suicide ten years after the bomb, as "the courage to die." The survivor, Mrs. Shimohira, found "the courage to live" and to dedicate her life to abolishing nuclear weapons. We follow her and two college students as they talk with U.S., British and Japanese students, and as they invite Presidents Bush and Chirac and Prime Minister Blair to visit Nagasaki. Schedule the filmmaker to appear with the film and lead a Q&A: email RRProd@aol.com SPECIAL FEATURES DVD Chapters with timing for each chapter Appropriate for:
92 minutes • DVD-R
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REVIEWS ""Shedding light on the dark corners of history...compelling...fascinating ...alarming...startling...the simple, earnest truth."" "Sober, measured tone...powerful." Video Librarian full review "Powerful" ""Quite touching""
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