Movie Discussion: Black Rain

Story by Masuji Ibuse
Directed by Shohei Imamura

I. Introduction
Many awards winning movie, which included Japanese Academy awards – ‘Black Rain’ is one of the most remarkable movies ever. The movie is directed by Shohei Imamura, based on the same name novel by Masuji Ibuse. Though the movie based upon atomic bombing at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, theme of the film, is – the social and psychological consequences of the war and that attack, such as radiation sickness, social segregation, mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder and so on and so forth.

II. Brief expression of the Film
Yasuko, a young and beautiful Japanese woman was in a tea party where several
miles away countryside from Hiroshima when the A-bomb blasted on the city. Shigematsu, Yasuko’s uncle was in one of the trains at Hiroshima. He was directly affected from the explosion. After Yasuko saw the mushroom shade - huge explosion in Hiroshima, she came back to the city in order to be reunion with her family. Yasuko, her uncle Shigematsu and her aunt Shigeko run away from the disaster area.
The family resettled in Fukuyama in May 1950, which was about five years later, after the Hiroshima’s nightmare. They escaped from the direct impact of the attack, but they became the victims indirectly. Shigematsu tried to get a cleaned and healthy certificate for Yasuko by several ways. In order to be available to get marriage, Yasuko needed a certificate, which will prove her good and healthy condition, though she was outside of Hiroshima when the exact time of the attack. Actually, though she was away from the city in the bombing time, since she came back to the city during the black raining period, she got radiation sickness.

III. Consequences and Lessons
A. Sudden Deaths and effects
According to the film, there were tons of thousands of sudden deaths in
Hiroshima at the time of bombing and after the bombed. Many people were walking around with blinded eyes, with abnormal brains and almost useless memory. One of the senses showed that a brother could not remember well his younger brother.
B. Psychological Impacts
In the film, actually, all of Yasuko, Shigematsu and Shigeko got
psychological effects. They all had abnormal feelings inside of them though they were living like they were happy. The worst thing was - they did not trust by themselves. Another psychological damaging view has occurred with a poor man, Yuichi who was a Japanese soldier during the war time. Nevertheless, his mental problem was not directly concerned with A-bomb, but it was direct impact of ‘war.’ How he was attacking the motor vehicles as ‘tanks’ because of the sound of engines. It was one of anti-war statements of the film.
C. Physical Impacts
Many people became physical disabilities was also expressed in the film. Some people who had damages from bombing were looks strong and healthy but actually, they were not. The sense of three men’s fishing revealed about it. They said that they wished they could be working. But it was impossible because they could not be available to work the hard works for scientific damages, which they got from explosion.
D. Lessons
The first lesson, which the film gave, could be simply - “War is Bad!” At
one of senses in the film, even Japanese soldiers said that “war is bad.” War always brings deaths, physical and mental disabilities, long term negative impacts, broken hearts, tears and so on.
We fight for territories. We fight for race and ethnicities. We fight for beliefs. We fight for isms. We fight for power. We fight for possessions. The second lesson could be “War was born together with our human beings!”
The third and final lesson could be a question, which we all have to ask
and brainstorm by ourselves that - “Is war evitable or inevitable, and why?”

IV. Conclusion
With fabulous actors; based in one of unforgettable events in world history; dramatic
actions and senses; giving many lessons, “Black Rain” makes two statements – “Anti-War!” and “Hiroshima was lost!”

Note: This was one of my essays in my class and just sharing with my dear readers. Thanks!
Picture: http://www.posteritati.com/jpg/B4/BLACK%20RAIN%20JP%20DIFF.JPG