film review from Liberal Street Fighter
“It was a beautiful day …the plane was shining in the sun. We stopped working, mesmerized … admiring the plane.
I’ve heard so many people talk about how beautiful the day was when the World Trade Center was attacked. The sky was crystal blue, cloudless, a perfect fall day.
That’s not the day being described by the person quoted above. It’s a memory relayed in the haunting documentary Original Child Bomb, which was shown on the Sundance Channel earlier this evening. In an earlier piece, I focused on the excellent piece by Greg Mitchell in Editor & Publisher, but I’d like to share my impressions about the movie Mr. Mitchell played a part in creating.
What does the bombing of Hiroshima have to do with 9/11? The film makes a connection, between those events and so much more …
… the connection is fear, and lies. The misunderstandings people have of one another, misunderstandings stoked by propaganda and government distortions, from all parties involved.
The film uses long-lost footage from the aftermath of the bombings, but that isn’t the sole source of its power. Thomas Merton’s poem is quoted throughout, but the director Carey Schonegevel mixes in modern music, anime, children’s drawings, art work from survivors, statistics about nuclear weapons and so much more to drive home how important open communication and the power of art to bridge our differences.
We see a photographer developing film of the bombings, pictures that become increasingly gruesome and disturbing. Disgusted, he starts to destroy the photos, the pieces of which become the graffiti raining down on Times Square on VJ day. Jubulation born out of horrible pain.
A japanese boy walks through modern Hiroshima listening to electronic music, dressed in a ball cap, jeans and a tee shirt, while the street scenes morph into film shot in the aftermath. Film, music, photos … they help us to step into other people’s experiences. THAT is why so many governments, NOT just our government, declare writings and artwork forbidden.
Our greatest hope is this ability to make ourselves understood through the insights offered by art. The only way to avoid a conflict that could lead to widespread nuclear destruction (which the film highlights by show the growth of nuclear arsenals over the decades) is to keep those lines open.
The questions of children, the stories and pictures created by children, are scattered throughout Original Child Bomb. If they are to have a future, it’s vital that we oppose any government that seeks to squelch the truth, that seeks to demonize people we don’t know as OTHERS, because if the bombs DO drop, the pain is the same pain, the rent flesh hangs in the same bloody ribbons, no matter who they fall on.
Original Chld Bomb is a powerful film. It will be shown again on August 09 2005 04:30 pm; August 14 2005 03:30 pm; August 19 2005 02:00 pm; August 24 2005 12:00 pm. Try to take it in if you can.
photo from Materials News
Thank you for posting this. I will make sure to view it.
It is a wonderful thought for art to lead the way, and hopefully enough will see it through.
One day.
Who is Art?
Art can reveal truth to us obliquely when we are unable to face it head on.
And yet there are so many who stll believe that these bombings were justified.
He and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement asking the Japs to surrender and save lives. I’m sure they will not do that, but we will have given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler’s crowd or Stalin’s did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful. [Pres. Truman, diary entries, 17, 18, & 25 Jul 1945].
There is much, much more at the Truman Library, including extensive notes dealing with the events and planning leading up to use of the bomb. Without context, with hindsight, it is far too easy to judge the decisions made by those involved in the largest war ever seen on earth.
Do not make the mistake of equating Harry Truman with the amoral administration currently in office. For the current President, the buck has been traded for one hundred pennies thrown in the air.
It has always been a question of balance. Our job is to tip the scales towards peace. Place the art on our side.
wow, I was in no way equating the LEADERS. However, I think we can equate the AFTERMATH.
If you listen to descriptions of the dropping of “device”, you’ll hear how close it was to its target coordinates. The more things change … The fireball encompassed a large part of the city, but the BOMB exploded w/in a hundred feet or so of where we WANTED it to explode. Hurray.
A couple of notes: Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not purely “military targets.” Second, we didn’t provide a real warning, just radio broadcasts of “Surrender or be destroyed” followed by leaflets.
Strip away the the culture, the clothes, the morning commute … and you’re left with shredded skin and festering sores and melted eyes. They look the same, once the surface is burnt away.
That war was started by lies and propaganda, sold by emphasizing the differences between peoples, and downplaying that we all want the best for our children, a brighter future. The Japanese government lied to start that one. Our government lied about what monsters ALL Japanese were in order to prod us into battle. Our people dutifully killed the “other,” and our government lied about the true cost of how we did it. The japanese did the same. The Japanese government portrayed Americans as brutes, apes, coming to rape, murder and eat women and children. Citizens dutifully went to morning courses on how to use a spear to defend their homes. Lies stoking the fires, stoking the fear.
Always, when someone talks or writes about this subject, they get back “but our leader was more justified,” in one way or another. The justifications fly back and forth, spun out into each new conflict.
“They hate us for our freedom.”
Some variation of that has been said before nearly every one of our wars. The Indians were savages, don’t you know?
Do I think Truman was a better man and a better person the GWB? Of course. However, there are many people who feel the opposite. GWB thinks he’s every bit as justified in his decisions as Truman thought he was in his.
What’s the difference? Truman was apparently very open to learning more. One can argue he made the best decision he could, because we all know that he had a reputation for being open. Bush, on the other hand, is parochial, closed off …
The point of the movie, the point I apparently failed to make, is that governments can only do this if we welcome their lies, welcome the barriers they place around cultural and artistic exchange, both WITHIN our culture, and with OTHER cultures. The most repressive governments close off artistic exchange first, allowing ONLY “state approved” creators to represent the country. Fostering more misunderstandings.
The cycle goes on.
Is the issue really wether Truman was a better man than GW? Truman made a terrible decision to drop that bomb. The war was already lost by the Japanese. I believe there were already surrender overtures taking place. It was a terrible decision to experiment on two cities…much like 9/11.
When we the people refuse to become involved in politics, when we refuse to take responsibility for the creation of our government and society, then terrible power is left in the hands of very few people.
Remember…the more voices raised…
I agree … I was just trying to respond to rba’s assertion that I wasn’t being fair to Truman.
Point(s) taken. Stripped of any context your arguments carry some weight. I just have a problem with any comparison between Hiroshima/Nagasaki and 9/11. There are no comparisons.
What’s the difference? [Truman v. Bush]
I’d suggest you read the notes of meetings linked in my first post to gain some insight into the U.S. position in WW II, in the summer of ’45.
There are those who would return to, and attempt to isolate and condemn, the last significant U.S. act in WW II. After they’ve read a brief history, and/or those notes, I’d really like to hear the alternative to “dropping the bomb”.
I agree with your general points about lies & propaganda, and responsibility resting with the people.
Truman was to a certain extent limited in his choices.
However, a demonstration nuke, perhaps over Toyko Harbor (the city had already been all-but destroyed) with a message calling for surrender before and after.
Wars always end, to one extent or another, with negotiation. Many argue that Hiroshima was a necessary military strike to create an atmosphere for surrender. The case is harder to make for Nagasaki.
However, I’m not a WW2 historian. The point of the movie is that wars need lies from which to grow.
I think the equivalency thing that comes up whenever anyone has this discussion is a straw man. Civilians were killed to obtain a political outcome. We can argue forever whether one incident was worse than another. The point is too prevent new atrocities through communication and understanding.