Perhaps that is why the films all grapple with the notion of American decency. American directors exploring Hiroshima seem bound to the docudrama form, a literal approach inappropriate for this revolutionary and psychologically ambiguous event - and one that makes few emotional demands on its creators and the audience.Īmbivalence or guilt is certain to be evoked by any cinematic treatment of Hiroshima. Only three Hollywood movies have emerged about the making or use of the first atomic bombs. Almost all of them are works of pure fiction, imagining nuclear attacks in the near or distant future while ignoring the two instances when atomic weapons have already been used: Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
What is striking is that few of these films say anything directly about Hiroshima.
