Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

emuir-1 I found this movie in my collection yesterday and realizing that I had never watched it and having no idea where it came from, I decided to view it.The depiction of the two sides, US and Japanese was impartial, both sides were dealing with similar issues, both sides had doves and hawks, although the Japanese were portrayed as quite good looking, tidy and well mannered, whereas the Americans were portrayed as cigar chomping, sloppy, loud-mouths swigging drinks as they advocated a 'kick ass' policy toward the 'Nips'. Easy to see this was not an American production. James F. Byrne in particular was shown to be a hawk in favor of showing the world that the US had the upper hand. Having spent a couple of billion on developing the bomb, the hawks wanted the taxpayer to see where their money had gone, every last dime. Equally, the Japanese military, having never lost a war, were against the very idea of unconditional surrender as they really did not understand what it mean. The politicians toyed with the dilemma of whether to sacrifice tens of thousands of people, and what the result might mean in the future, which I found rather strange given that 100,000 people died in one night in the saturation bombing of Tokyo, and that the Japanese had been responsible for millions of dead, not to mention the barbarity toward civilian internees in SE Asia. After Germany's surrender, the Americans were able to concentrate on very heavy bombing of Japan, which was on its last legs, but the military wanted to go out with a bang.My biggest complaint with the DVD was the lack of captions which meant that I could not follow the English. Fortunately, half the film was in Japanese which was subtitled, so I could understand their point of view. The color was such that I kept wondering what was wrong with my TV set as it was coming and going, until I read later that it was in a mix of black and white newsreel footage, tinted black and white for the drama, and normal color for the interviews with survivors. I would rate the actual film higher than 6, but for the lack of captions and the awful color, which in my opinion was pretentious.

pmcmurry First of all, it would have been absolutely impossible to find a actor who looked and acted more like Harry Truman that Kenneth Walsh. Second, the most fascinating aspects of this movie relate to what was happening in Japan at the closing of the war. The idea that a majority of the military officers would have rather seen Japan cease to exist as a people than to surrender really provides some counter-balance to all of the recent revisionist history that claims that Japan was in the process of surrendering and that the U.S. used the A-bomb simply to avenge earlier Japanese treachery. "Hiroshima" is historical film-making at its best.

Ka Ru Fei Definitely one of the best historical movies I've seen. Doesn't cast political dispersions on the events or judge people in hindsight, simply gives a relatively even view of it from all sides (except for the Soviets, which would have been a good addition, if its ever even been discovered).They did a really good job of mixing the B&W with color, old with new footage, etc. If you get a chance to see it, check it out.

Phil Karn This is an outstanding production. And I think it no coincidence that it wasn't produced in the US.Over 50 years later, American emotions still run high about our use of nuclear weapons against Japan; the recent backlash against the Smithsonian exhibit is proof. This film is a nuanced, balanced, objective treatment with, as far as I can tell, remarkable historical accuracy. One sees just how simplistic and myopic the leaders of both sides were as they made (or avoided making) momentous decisions that affected the entire future of the human race. The one voice of reason, scientist Leo Szilard, is brushed off with hardly a hearing.This film is an effective indictment of our human propensity to place enormous powers in the hands of just a few individuals. I doubt any American producer could have made it.The film deftly mixes historical footage with re-enacted scenes using actors. Normally this sort of thing is rather jarring, but here it works. Even the transitions between the real Truman in newsreel footage and the actor playing him work well.