Hiroshima Out of the Ashes

 

Hiroshima Out of the Ashes 1990

• Director: Peter Werner
• Seen by this director: Several episodes of Grimm
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Max Von Sydow, Judd Nelson, Mako, Tamlyn Tomita, Stan Egi
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Max Von Sydow: Star Wars the Force Awakens, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Shutter Island, Emotional Arithmetic, Le scaphandre et le papillon, Snow Falling on Cedars, Dune, Never Say Never Again, The Exorcist, Nybyggarna, Utvandrarna, Vargtimmen, Här har du ditt liv, Hawaii, Smultronstället, Det sjunde inseglet
• Why? Possible OK
• Seen: 1 October 2022      

       Hiroshima, August 1945. Max Von Sydow is a German priest. There is pregnant Japanese-American woman (Tomita) who is regarded with suspicion and hostility though her missing husband is a Japanese soldier. There are children, doctors, nurses, American POWs.

       And then the bomb is dropped.

       In many ways it’s amateurish. The acting is stiff, even Von Sydow, the dialogue wooden, and the Japanese characters speaking English ruin to the sense of reality. But the scenes of death and destruction, the desperate search for survivors, the impossibility of saving the injured and dying, are all graphic and gripping.

       It’s not an easy subject to film but this is a decent attempt. Flawed, yes, but worth seeing. 

3 ½* of 5.