Our summarized thought

From watching the first part of the film overall our group feels the terrible incident of the atomic bomb and how from the very start of the movie it shows how the bomb made even brothers unrecognizable, for me this was the saddest scene, how his own brother doubts him and how his belt is what reveals the truth, it was almost too much to bare. The visuals are horrible but also the mental abuse going on in that movie is also intense, because I can understand Japanese the words are much deeper and sadder. In Japanese there is a way to say things that English just doesn’t have and the director has made it very dark visually and the script.

The movie takes place in a time that marriage is generally arranged so this may answer the question from Pim. Also stated was the fact that the director gives an intensive and long horror scene and then later shows glimmers of hope and how people were working together such as the carp and aloe but it seems in the end there is no hope. The parts about tradition is important because in many times of horror universally people look to religious ceremonies to ease the pain it’s a kind of coping method for people to take their environment in. I think the uncle takes care of Yasuko because of the fact that at times of crisis we only have friends and family and especially family is key for living from day to day. Also the fact that she is beautiful inside and out and is at the age to marry shows that the uncle is worried about her status and rumors it shows how Japan at that time was very much dominated by males and marriage was a necessity not an option for women. The author uses ways to hint that death is coming such as the line about how a women didn’t feel sick until the disease got her and it was too late, it also shows the constant fear and stress they had to live in day to day. The anti-bomb scenes and showing the horror as it is, is a good way for the director to show the film in my opinion. We get the troubles and how the victims even if they survived the bomb that no one had it easy. As the story continues it goes through to her complex situation in life with her being a hibakusha and the character is at the age that she fully comprehends her position and it is sad how she has to give up on love and watches all the people who moved with her from Hiroshima all dying off. Yuichi is a character who in the beginning of the movie seems like a person with mental disabilities because when Yasuko and her family get off the bus and see him screaming it seems that way but later in the film we see that in fact he is a very skilled artist and when she talks to him he is very calm and smart but it seems that because he was a soldier and when he was close to his death he heard the tanks rolling over his head, this is why when he hears an engine he tries to follow his captains orders to place the bomb in the tire to blow it up. The movie has many scenes with nature, this shows how there is light in the darkness around them. The darkness however, kind of gave me a feeling of numbness because of all the terrible things going on. Also towards the end Shigeko, Shizuma's two friends and implied Yasuko dies. We can see the hopeless face of the uncle and how he prays for a miracle but can see it will not come true.

 

By: Keiji

Our thoughts for the film

Sandy (Sang Ui)

My thoughts for the first 40 minutes

Firstly, I was shocked again by the atomic bomb and who were hurt and die by the bomb.It was somewhat creepy haha.. but anyway I like the way the story goes. The director implied the damage of pika-bomb in many parts in physically, mentally, and socially: People can't recognize their family, the groom side refuses the marriage even though she just got black rain, the women who were doing ocha were talking about her like they can't trust her that she was not in Hiroshima when the bomb hit, and Yasuko suffer mentally because of these.

Chen Shin Chen (Stella)

I am kind of shock too from the film even i just saw the first of three part of the movie. I think the reason why the director wants to shoot the film in black and white is because of that it would be extremely gruesome with BlACK RAIN in color. The atomic distruction is really horrible beyong description.
In my opinion i think this movie truly expressed anti bomb and shows citizens were unknowingly suffered from the disaster and pain under the political issues and wars between governments.
We should cherish and keep the peace." Unjust peace is better than a war of justice."


Watanasirisuk Pimchanok (Pim)

First of all I think there are little mistakes in the subtitles.

around 00:58 it should be "aunt's best formal kimono and things." not " grandmother's best formal..."

01:10 it should be "uncle's formal wear and mine" not " grandfather's formal....."

since she lives with her aunt and uncle.


There are also some parts which I did not understand so I hope that maybe you guys can explain them to me if you know them :)

1. In the beginning she told us that she had been packing and was going to leave Hiroshima. So how did she and her uncle know that it was going to be dangerous to keep staying in Hiroshima? According to The Hollywood After the Bomb article, the Americans didn't give any warning that they were going be bombing. Also the moving did not tell us where they evacuated to right? I just know that it was her grandmother’s place.

2. In Japanese society around that time was it common for a couple to just meet only once or twice and then get married? or was it because of Yasuko's condition that they rushed it?


First I think it was good that the director use the method of going back between the present time and the time right after the bombing happened. By doing this it kind of breaks up all the horror and depressing screens into parts so we wouldn’t have to experience it all at once. There are also many Japanese traditions inserted in the movie such as tea ceremony, the chanting of Sutra for the deaths, and communicating with spirits. Some of these traditions I believe shows that even during the time of anxiety or hardship Japanese people still turn to them. I also love how Yasuko’s uncle really loves her. He really takes good care of her even though she is not his child. I think their relationship is very touching. Also if I have not wated this film I would not know that such soical stigma and discremination against hibakushas existed in Japan in the post war period. For me it just emphasizes the fact that human beings have many ugly sides. in them.

AI

What I thought interesting was how to depict and express the"Black rain" in the film.
5'50 No one in the boat incluing Yasuko said or screamed about Black rain. We only see her face and expression with the intensive music.

17'01 The line from yasuko's uncle [ The doctor's wife, either. She didn't have any pain until the desase got her] implise how's the story goes towards the end.

30'01 As the uncle and aunt copy yasuko's journal, they mention to the black rain that [showing huge rain drop as black as ink. Even though it was summer I shrived from cold.]
I think this is the first time they mention to Black rain since it had happend. Also this lines well depict black rain  and enough to remind/ imagine what was like without showing us the scene.

The other thing is that as the story goes, she becomes one of the victims from the a-bomb radiation. Even though she was first ordinary person and see people around her dying.

This film is focusing on how harsh the atomic bomb was, but also how hard to deal with illuness caused by radiation and people/family around them.

The radiated black rain

The black rain that falls on Yasuko is a mixture of different kinds of radioactive isotopes and other materials irradiated by neutrons from the bomb that is carried into the atmosphere. These airborne irradiated materials coupled with carbon residue from citywide fires result in black rain. The black rain happened in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki and occurred within 30-40 minutes after the atomic bombs had been dropped. The black rain came in a form of radioactive water which was sticky and dark.  Not only did black rain leave stains on skin, clothing, and even buildings, it could also be ingested through breathing as well as the consumption of contaminated food and water which in the end could result in radiation sickness such as cancer.

                      

                          Black rain streaks on a wall (preserved in Japan’s museum)

 

Reference: http://atomicbombmuseum.org/3_radioactivity.shtml

By: Pim

Award

According to Wikipedia

Film

 

Wins

·       
Cannes Film Festival 1989: Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention, Technical Grand Prize

·         Flanders International Film Festival Ghent 1989: Georges Delerue Prize, Golden Spur

·         Hochi Film Awards 1989: Best Actress

·         Japanese Academy Awards 1990: Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Lighting, Best Music Score, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress

·         Blue Ribbon Award 1990: Best Actress

·         Kinema Junpo Award 1990: Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film

·         Mainichi Film Concours 1990: Best Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Film

·         Sant Jordi Awards 1991: Best Foreign Film

Nominations

·         Cannes Film Festival 1989: Palme d'Or   

·         Japanese Academy Awards 1990: Best Art Direction, Best Sound

·         Independent Spirit Awards 1991: Best Foreign Film  

 

Novel

·         Cultural Medal

·         Noma Prize (Japan's hgihtest literary award)

 Reference: Ibuse, Masuji. (1969). Black Rain. Tokyo: Kodansha. (Trans. John Bester)
                     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rain_(Japanese_film)

By: Pim

Reviews

Review by James Goodwin

In “Akira Kurosawa and the Atomic Age”, James Goodwin mentions about the social stigma and the marginalization suffered by hibakushas which are portrayed in ‘Black Rain’. According to Goodwin, ‘Black Rain’ shows how the lives of the survivors are completely turned upside down and do not resume to normal even years later or forever. The effects are unimaginable and they linger on both body and mind. The most depressing thing of all might be the fact that the survivors are now victims of caste division by the Japanese society. Also as a country, the bomb magnifies problems in the city such as official corruption, civil chaos, and degrading of moral consciousness. As in the countryside even though some local festivals are revitalized, the family life of the hibakushas can never turn back to the way it used to be. Goodwin also notices how the novel contains information regarding unexplainable changes to ecology caused by the bomb which manifests itself in the form of grotesque. As for the movie, the main focus is more on Yasuko who is looking for a marriage partner while being concerned of her potential health condition.

I think Goodwin is trying to compare the differences in Japanese society’s reaction that happens in ‘Black Rain’  to another of his analysis of ‘Ikimono no Kiroku’ AKA ‘I live in Fear’ by Kurosawa which came out in 1955 during the hydrogen bomb testing era.  In ‘Ikimono no Kiroku’ , Nakajima who has a fear of radiation fallout and wishes to seek a hide out with his extreme ways is regarded as crazy by both his family and the society. The film really raises the question of absurdity between a man who wants to take a refuge because of the potential dangers and the society that seems unaffected by them. On the contrary, those around Yasuko in ‘Black Rain’ are very concerned of the nuclear effects and constantly express their fear by outcasting the hibakushas. However, in ‘Ikimono no Kiroku’the the story takes place in a city, therefore I believe that the economic issue should also be considered because the people are under extreme pressure and therefore cannot concern themselves with the topic which according to them has low possibility in occurring. To sum up, although the events in two films occur not many years apart and are both results of the bomb and its existence, they show differences in the views of the Japanese society.

           

Review by John Bester ( 'Black Rain' novel translator)

According to John Bester, He himself was hesitant at first when asked to translate “Kuroi Ame” despite the acclaim it had received. He was not sure that the author could have really written the book without making it too harsh or too sentimental due to the nature of the theme. However, after having done the work his opinions changed and he actually gained new insights of Japan and its people. What makes Ibuse’s work valuable is the fact that it is able to remain balanced while being full of a variety of themes and moods. Ibuse’s work as Bester says, has elements of a documentary. Some events and characters mentioned in the book actually exist; one example is the story of Shigematsu Shisuma. The book is a mixture of contrasts as a result of Ibuse’s ability to put horror and humor together without sounding disrespectful or insensitive. When judged with an unbiased mind, readers will understand reasons for their existence and the effects they create.  Another intense contrast is violence and peacefulness, and instead of focusing on the downfall of the country the author offsets it with the effects the bombing has on the people. The discreet and reserved nature of the Japanese is portrayed through the story of Shigematsu in the scene where he reunites with his wife. Even though years have passed, there’s no denying that the subject within living memories still brings back agony and distress. However, the author successfully manages to refrain from adding political aspects to the story. For those who feel that the book may be a work of protest, Ibuse proves it not to be the case. What is more, due to the use of real-life situations, readers are able to relate to the stories. The order in which the events are organized also displays the skills of Ibuse, with the story going back and forth in time, scenes that seem unrelated at first will reveal their important connotations later on. Unlike other novels where the narrative usually goes back to the equilibrium after the disruption has been resolved, in this novel the start of new life is once again at risk of another disruption.'Black Rain' serves as memoirs that provide such vivid pictures of the event and its consequences in all aspects of life including physical, mental, emotional and social destruction while also avoid being biased.

Review by Maya Morioka Todeschini


In this book, Maya compares two movies 'Black rain' and 'Diary of Yumechiyo' focusing on female hibakusha as  cultural heroines, and the politics of A-bomb memory.  According to her, Black Rain depicted precious insight of female survival in Japanese culture, and emphasized on women central role in a making larger 'politics of memory'. She mentions the movie tried to avoid emotional depiction and instead the director used humor and irony. Despite all of the hardships, Yasuko continues endure and bravely fights until the end of the movie (Eating herbs, sacrificing her marriage, helping another man who also is the victim). Maya's idea about Black Rain is however the female protagonist endures everything and lives positively, there is "no sense of people's complexity of relationship to the historical situation they inherit"(cited Carolyn Steedman).

I liked the new way of approaches in this review. Maya finds some symbolic parts in the movie focusing on gender and politics of A-bomb memory. The movie depicted 1950s, the pre-modern society of Japan, and I could find some symbolic scenes that I couldn't notice until I read this review. For example, the movie shows modernization and westernization of Japan by contrasting Yasuko(the main character) to another girl in her age who speaks brash language and is bit rude to her parents. It also used irony portraying typical womanly character to act manly than other characters like Yuichi .


In this review it talks about the narrative strategy of Black Rain in both the novel and film. The director and author both state that they did not want to take the role of making it too political and wanted to at the same time not down play the horrors, two different kind of criticism came from the film, the first being that it wasn't horrific enough (favoring strong political statements on the other hand some thought it was too horrific (those who don't want art to be mixed with politics. but both artists wanted to cut down their authority on the things happening at the time because after 5 years Japan started to think it was the past and they wanted to show that people are still suffering and dying after the fact in the present and people should not forget and also the threatening of mankind.The author's use irony and humor to put humility and honesty in the face of potentially overwhelming subject matter.

Review by John T. Dorsey

In this review it talks about the narrative strategy of Black Rain in both the novel and film. The director and author both state that they did not want to take the role of making it too political and wanted to at the same time not down play the horrors, two different kind of criticism came from the film, the first being that it wasn't horrific enough (favoring strong political statements on the other hand some thought it was too horrific (those who don't want art to be mixed with politics. but both artists wanted to cut down their authority on the things happening at the time because after 5 years Japan started to think it was the past and they wanted to show that people are still suffering and dying after the fact in the present and people should not forget and also the threatening of mankind.The author's use irony and humor to put humility and honesty in the face of potentially overwhelming subject matter.




References:
Broderick, M. (1991). Akira Kurosawa and the Atomic Age. In: Goodwin, James. Hibakusha  Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film
Broderick, M. (1991). Death and the Maiden's Female Hibakusha as Cultural Heroines, and the Politics of A-Bomb Memory. In: Todeschini, Maya Morioka. Hibakusha  Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film
Broderick, M. (1991). Narrative Strategies of Undrstatement in Black Rain as a Novel and a Film. In: Dorsey, John T., Matsuoka Naomi. Hibakusha  Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film

Ibuse, Masuji. (1969). Black Rain. Tokyo: Kodansha. (Trans. John Bester)


By: Pim & Sandy, Keiji

Compare and contrast between the film and the novel

"We are not living to die"

By comparing between the book and the film, there are several commonalities and differences in throughout  the story.

Commonalities

1. purpose of the work

According to the book John, T and Naomi (1996), both Ibuse, the author of the original book, and Imamura, the producer of the Black rain made their work to represent “the normal lives of normal people in abnormal times” (John, T. & Naomi, 1996, P.219 )and not for the political aim. they both preferred to understatement and irony to direct statements. Ibuse claims that his novel is not aiming for making political statement or objecting to the use of atomic bomb or rather the world peace. As well as Imamura who seems more focused on to draw "a quiet voice"(John, T & Naomi, 1996, p.204). 

Moreover, these two works draw the destruction of Hiroshima by using humor and irony. Thoguh Ibuse seems more  likely  to make serious situation more  ambiguity, than that of  Imamura.

2. Based on the actual document and record

Original book was written based on the existed diary which was written by one of the survivors of atomic bomb. Their names are Shizuma Shigematsu and Iwatake Hiroshi, the Japanese military doctor  whose name are directly used as character in both novel and the film. Shizuma and the author Ibuse are fishing friend, and one day Shizuma told Ibuse about his niece and showed him his diary to write. Even though the portion of the diary in the story is different, both book and the film are narrated by Shizuma's subjective which is based on the actual journals

Differences

1. More detail depicted

The original book has more detailed description of those injured people who directly hit by the bomb in Hiroshima. It describes those people from various ages that suffering from radiation sickness such as burn, headache, and surface wound, internal disease. As well as Yasuko, she becomes one of the hibakusha; atomic bomb victim gets maggots and pin worm from her tumor on her hip.  Though the film also has those scenes, the book constantly illustrates those people throughout the story and depicts more intensely.

2. Absent characters

Some of the characters are added on the film who don’t exist on the original book: Yuichi, Fumiko, her mother, and priestess.  Yuichi has feeling on Yasuko and so does she as the later of the story.He has mental illness from the war so people in the village see him insane.  One of the reasons why Imamura, the producer of the film put Yuichi is that he wants to put love romance between him and Yasuko to capture women’s audience. And the other is because he wanted to express the voice of those lower class people represented by Yuichi. This character is by the way comes from other Ibuse's novel called Lieutenant Lookeast in 1950, who plays in the novel with exactly the role and the name.  Imamura is famous for making his with dealing with those people who are normally people do not pay attention to otherwise.  Other characters, such as Fumiko, working at the cabaret and her mother who is sexually active in the Tabaco shop are one of the comic scenes inserted from Imamura.  

3. Different story narrative

How the story goes and the ending is different from the book. Firstly, while the whole story of the book is about the days after the bomb dropped in Hiroshima and many descriptions of those people dead, the film has this part only in the beginning and the rest is almost all about present life which is five years after.  The film has more focus on the Yasuko’s life and her marriage. Both of them use diary as a device to tell the story that what happened in Hiroshima on the 6^th of August in 1945, however, the portion that diary comprise in the story is different.

Secondly, though the book clearly mentions that Yasuko is likely to die, the film leaves the audience question that whether if she is going to die or not. This can be seen by this line

「どうせ叶わぬことと分かっていても、重松は向うの山に目を移してそう占った。」

: So he told himself, with his eyes on the nearby hills, though he knew all the  while it could never come true.

4. Color depiction

While the book illustrates many of the scenes by using colors such as white rainbow, dark purple iris, golden carp, the film is made in black and white. According to John and Naomi, this is because the producer emphasized on the death and alive as well as to represent the journal which is written by writing brush with black ink with white paper.

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/elmikamino/20091130/p2

References: 

Ibuse, Masuji. (1969). Black Rain. Tokyo: Kodansha. (Trans. John Bester)

Broderick, M. (1991). Narrative Strategies of Undrstatement in Black Rain as a Novel and a Film. John, T. Dorsey. & Naomi, Matsuoka. (1996). Narrative Strategies of Understatement in Black Rain as a Novel and a Film. London: Kegan Paul International.

In: Dorsey, John T., Matsuoka Naomi. Hibakusha  Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film

Masuji, Ibuse. & Akatsuki, Kanbayashi. (1999). Ibuse masuji Kanbayashi Akatsuki Shu. Toko: Chikuma Shobo.

By Ai

Masuji Ibuse

n

Biography of Ibuse Masuji （井伏鱒二）

・1898 Born in Kamomura Village, Hiroshima

・1923 Experienced the Great Kanto Earthquake        

・1944 Evacuation to Yamanashi prefecture

・1945 Evactuation to  Kamomura villege   
              Only released an essay with 5 pages,

              excapt that he kept writing his own journal

・1947 Went back to Tokyo

・1956 Released 'Mei no kekkon' ( Later called Black Rain)

・1993 10th of July died at the age of 95

 

According to the 'Black Rain' novel

He majored in French at Waseda University and joined the School of Fine Arts to pursue a serious interest in painting. His first story, 'Salamander' was published in 1923, when Ibuse was still a student, and by the early 1930s his eloquent use of dialect and his unique prose style had established him as one of the leading figures in the Japanese liteary world.

In the years since 1938 he has been awared almost every major literary prize in Japan, and on the publication of Black Rain Ibuse was presented with both the Cultural Medal and Japan's highest literary award, the Noma Prize.

As he started his career, he usede 鱒二(His real kanji is 満寿二） as his penname since he loves fishing. ( 鱒　means trout in Japanese.) Around this time, for most writters are also fond of fishing because it makes them feel free and released as if their mind flow like water. 

His writing style, adding humor to his story which moderates negative aspects of the story is quite known and he was famous for it. 

Reference: Ibuse, Masuji. (1969). Black Rain. Tokyo: Kodansha. (Trans. John Bester)

By: Ai

Women role

 The women's role in this movie is quite big, we see how Yasuko is almost like being sold to other families, they get certificates to prove she is worthy and no one tries to think that maybe she shouldn't get married. It is also arranged and her uncle and his friends it seems are making the decisions for her. Though she seems she wants to get married in many ways it seems like there is no choice it looks as if her life is not compleate without a husbund. In one scene the uncle and aunt talk about how they cant see her mother in heaven without her being married. Life without a husbund=bad with a husbund=happy (the way it should be). When even looking at setting the time in the living room it also shows how he calls her name and she does it. We can see that in that time Japan was a mans world. There is also a character who remarries or has a boyfriend after her child and it seems she is a bad character. Her daughter is also looked as a bad girl because she doesn't want a man instead wants to work and enjoy her life. I think at this time because Japan wasn't modernized the old way of thinking about women as care givers and people who work in the house is shown. Another scene is when her aunt apologizes to her sister in law who has passed on by that time but because of her sickness she is delusional and says I am sorry for not being able to have a child. 

By: Keiji

Sound

The overall sound track is done by Toru Takemitsu.
The bgm is used as follow:

00:02:50 ~ 00:06:19

-causing tension

00:31:42 ~ 00:35:58

-Going back to past when the bomb hit Hiroshima
-Confusing and desperate situation

01:26:21 ~ 01:27:41

When Yuichi-san is talking about the sound of the engine.
using sound effects to emphasize Ken's feeling

01:28:35 ~ 01:29:33

Funeral of Kotaro san

01:30:11 ~ 01:30:30

 Yasuko looking herself in the mirror

01:44:43 ~ 01:45: 56

Yasuko's hair falling out

01:50:18 ~ 01:51:19
Fry jumping up from the river

Funeral Music (04:09)
from BLACK RAIN dir. Sohei Imamura, 1989

Other than this sound track, all of the sound was done by Toru. He used music as a way to emphasize the tragic or desperate situation. Other than this, he didn't use any music in this movie, but only the conversation between people and narration.


This is the link that has Toru's other sound tracks so if you are interested please check this out
http://www.schott-music.com/shop/persons/az/toru-takemitsu/audiosamples/

  By: Sandy

Symbolic

According to our interpretations

Black rain which literally is a radiated rain, in another sense can also be considered as the crying of Hiroshima because the rain fell down not long after the bomb was dropped which led to the total destruction of the city. 

Tea ceremony is a Japanese tradition of tea making. The ceremony also symbolizes peace. The explosion of the atomic bomb during a tea ceremony is an event that can be seen as the disturbance of Japanese people’ peace.

Jizo sculptures have many meanings according to their shapes and appearances. One of the meanings of Jizo or Ojizosama is that they are believed to help heal sickness. It is believed by the Japanese people that Jizo will absorb all the sickness from the person. In the film, Yuichi who has feeling for Yasuko carves many Jizo statues and gives them to Yasuko hoping that they will help protect her against the sickness.

Carp is a prominent symbol throughout the film. It is believed by Shizuma and his friends that carp’s blood will enhance health as well as fight against radiation sickness. A carp really symbolizes the endurance of Japan and the Japanese people which in this case are the hibakushas, due to their nature, the fish can swim upstream. After having survived the bombing, the hibakushas are still suffering in many ways. Nevertheless, they stick together and try to move on. Even in the Japanese traditional festival cerebrating the growing of boys called ‘Koinobori’, carps serve as the festival symbol. Family with young boys would hang carp streamers which represent the growing up of boys to become healthy and strong.

White rainbow is a sign that bad things will happen. In the end, when Yasuko’s condition worsens, Shizuma hopes that bad signs such as a white rainbow would never appear. Also in the novel, Shizuma himself has once seen a white rainbow before on 14^th  August, the month of the bombing. Shizuma’s boss is another person who has seen a white rainbow. He tells Shizuma that he saw a white rainbow on the day before the 2.26 event happened in Japan. 2.26 was the date of famous Japanese coup d’état incident when the prime minister at the time was almost assassinated and many government officials were killed. Another possible negative sign is a white rainbow in the form of a mushroom cloud. Shizuma hears on the radio how the Americans are considering using nuclear weapons with the Koreas due to the Korea War happening at the time. Therefore, Shizuma might have some fear regarding another nuclear holocaust and radiation fallout which can spread to Japan.

By: Pim, Ai