Will Sorg-

This is not a movie about the bombing of Hiroshima. It is, but not really. Black Rain is a 1989 film by Japanese director Shōhei Imamura, about what happened after the bombs – a story rarely told, especially to Western audiences. In the film, there is a hauntingly well-done portrayal of the attack itself. A normal day gives way to chaos as a blinding white light renders people blind, with clothes burnt into their skin and the entire city turned upside down. Anyone not killed in the initial blast is left shambling through a ruin slowly being overtaken by a firestorm. Imamura is not interested in giving audiences a moment of reprieve from these images. The haunting background actors with skin falling off of their bodies perfectly implies the hellish state of Hiroshima and the eventual reveal of the terrifying mushroom cloud is breathtaking.

In my opinion, the most fascinating part about this film is the scenes that are not directly within Hiroshima. The film is actually primarily about a man named Shigematsu Shizuma and his family. Shigematsu, his wife, and his niece travel through Hiroshima shortly after the devastation and are subjected to the eponymous Black Rain that came after the nuclear attack. From that point onward, the film is primarily a contemplative family drama about the Shizuma’s struggles post-Hiroshima. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the people of Japan have a monstrous degree of unresolved trauma over World War Two. We could go on and on about Japan’s imperialism and the horrifying atrocities committed by its military, but it is also important to realize that millions of innocents were killed in the war. There is a glut of Japanese media coming to terms with the shadow of imperial Japan and how it in many ways destroyed the spirit of the country. This film specifically deals with the dark history of the Hibakusha.

Hibakusha is a term for atom bomb survivors in Japan. There is a deep-seated stigma against these survivors due to a lack of information about radiation. Many people believed rumors that the Hibakusha could give people radiation sickness by simply being near them and it was even believed to be hereditary. As a result, Hibakusha in Japan were the target of discrimination, with many being denied employment and other major needs.

Black Rain’s portrayal of the Hibakusha is incredibly empathetic. Each survivor shown in the film is portrayed to be more than just a victim. They have aspirations, interests, families, and friends. This is not a film showcasing how many bodies were made because of the nuke, it is a film showing us the people those bodies were and who they could’ve been without their destruction. The film sets us in the perspective of the main family as they watch many of their friends die of radiation sickness, never sure if they are next. Yet that tension is mostly only a background hum of anxiety through the melancholic serenity of the film.

Much of the film is made in the style of Yasujirō Ozu, arguably one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Ozu, who made films both before and after WW2, was a master of family drama. He left an unmatched mark on Japanese culture and this movie homaging his filmic language is not a coincidence. Imamura worked as an assistant director on many of Ozu’s films and although he certainly bridges away from his master, Imamura understood what made Ozu’s films so masterful: their ability to portray the lives of ordinary people through the lens of transcendental film. The film’s adherence to Ozu’s signature filmmaking style (long takes, stationary cameras, black and white color grading, and a theatrical style of acting) makes the film feel more immersive in the time period. At times, it can feel as though you are right next to the Shizuma family.

Yasuko, Shigematsu’s niece, has no parents and has been searching for a partner for the last five years since Hiroshima. She is treated like an outcast due to her status as Hibakusha and is deeply unhappy with her seemingly endless misfortune. The film’s portrayal of her struggle is heartbreaking. She is shown countless times to be a wonderful, loving woman with a supportive family and plenty of potential. Yet, still five years later, the atom bomb looms large over the Shizuma family.

Black Rain’s unconventional approach to the aftermath of an atrocity like Hiroshima is something absolutely vital to the world. Films like this are important because they portray the human side of an almost indescribable atrocity. It is a confrontation of world history in hopes that it will create a deeper understanding of how important it is that we must never again subject humankind to the horrors of nuclear warfare.