Dramatic Truth vs Veritable Truth

This movie has many scenes which are both veritable truths and dramatic truths, in the beginning of the movie the many heart wrenching scenes when the bomb hit and they are walking through Hiroshima is quite clear.

The parts where the burned bodies sometimes felt unreal but actual instances and even pictures of these victims look exactly like the movie. when looking at these disturbing images both in the movie and in real pictures taken after the fact they are very similar. Many of the burned houses and people screaming under ruble has also been documented, in fact many of the people who were burned out of recognition were those trapped under ruble and was engulfed in flames becoming the very bodies Yasuko  walks around and the soldiers are picking up and putting on the truck.

The scene that Yasuko's hair falls out and she has welts on her body are also documented, the people that were not directly in the blast due to cover of buildings and how far they were from the bomb have had many symptoms as shown in the movie. Examples ar hair loss, welts, high fever(reaching up to 40 C many died the first seven days due to this fever) swelling, change of color (body), bleeding of gums, and so on. Another scene in the beginning about how Yasukos uncle is talking to the man who had run away from his son, they say how they feel no pain which is also documented and hours to days later the burn starts to become agonizing pain. In the movie when people who escaped kept dying one after another, this was also true because many hospital or bomb shelters were having trouble in the amount of deaths and many were buried in groups which could be up to a few hundred.

Next is dramatic truth, the movie and its bases of stress about marriage and rumors which ended up destroying her reputation and the scenes where her aunt felt like she was shaming her sister in law and hallucinations of her friends were all dramatic truths, because the different things that people saw vary but no definite case such as this has been recorded. Another is the character who was part of the military but looses his mind when hearing a car thinking it is an tank. Though in the beginning I thought he had a mental problem from the start, we start to understand he is actually normal and quite it is just the flash backs of the war which keep following him. Another veritable truth is the voices and diary entries of what was happening from the uncles point of view and the ending narration about how he wished for a miracle and wanted to see a rainbow so that Yasuko can live. These ideas have a lot to do with emotion and so it is dramatic truth but at the same time it is also veritable truth because it is an actual diary that the book and the movie is based on.

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+ DRAMATIC TRUTH
One important dramatic truth I found in this movie is when the main character is remembering the past when the A-bomb hit. They met one guy who had survived from the bomb. He is telling his tragic story about leaving his child in fire  to the main characters . This man is not a main character nor he is imporant in th story. However, the director used this fictional character to stress emotions and made audience feel the same way.  Another scene I found is when aunt is sick in bed. She became mentally weak and starts to see the illusions of dead people. This brings out sad and desperate emotion so that audience have sympathy about this situation and pain the main characters are going through. These two scenes are somewhat unnecessary in flows of the movie and are fictional, but we understand the feelings. Thus I consider this two parts as a dramatic truth just for emotions.

By: Keiji and Sandy 

Director Shohei Imamura and 'Black Rain' Production

Born:  September 15, 1926 Tokyo, Japan

Died:  May 30, 2006 (aged 79), Tokyo, Japan

Occupation:  director, screenwriter, assistant director, producer, actor

Shohei Imamura who was born to an upper-middle-class doctor’s family involved himself in the black market during the time when Japan was in a devastated post-war condition selling things such as cigarettes and liquor. In this period he was shown to post-war Japanese society which is why most of his films are focused on the lower-class of Japanese society.  After graduating from Waseda University in 1951, Immamura began to assist Yasujiro Ozu at Shochiku Studios which marks the beginning of his film career.  Apart from the fact that both Imamura and Ozu wanted to express particular Japanese elements of the society in their films, Imamura realized that he did not agree with Ozu’s style of portraying the Japanese society which Imamura thought was too refined and restrained. Imamura left Shochiku in 1954 for Nikkatsu studio. Later on in 1665, Imamura decided to establish his own production company, Imamura Production. The establishment of his own company allowed him more freedom to explore themes without studio interference.

‘Black Rain’ was shot between June 1988 and December 1988. The location was a small mountain village in Okayama Prefecture, near the Sea of Setonaikai off Shikoki.   The film's total budget was estimated to be $3.5 million. Adding to that, Imamura also mortgaged his house to add money to the budget. Even though the film was made in 1989, Imamura decided to go with the artistic approach and shot the film in black and white. This was to make sure that the audience would keep their eyes fixed on the film and not turn away due to some of the scenes being too depressing if showed in color. Imamura made sure that his message would get through to the audience. Our group also feels that with black and white pictures the horror is even more amplified and they also make the film look much older which goes with the era that the event actually took place. The film also uses the method of going back and forth between past and present which we think is Imamura’s way of showing us the uncertainty and anxiety that still exist within the hibakushas even when time has passed, therefore we can understand the extent of the damage that has continued on. 

Family scenes in ‘Black Rain’, whether intentional or not, are staged and framed to remind the audience of Yasujiro Ozu’s family dramas from the 1950s. Therefore, Ozu’s dramas which involve physical suffering and social stigma caused by radiation sickness is a reference for the ‘Black Rain’ audience. The dramas also help with understanding more about families under pressure to conform to traditional expectations but have difficulty achieving them due to their own physical conditions as well as the view of the society towards them. In ‘Black Rain’, Shigeko has always felt ashamed of not being able to give birth and have an heir for the Shigematsu family, or like Yasuko who feels pressured for not being able to be married off like other girls her age.

Imamura‘s way of presenting the story is very realistic. The film starts off by showing us the everyday lives of the Hiroshima people but then in a blinding light their lives change forever. The audience can also feel the connection with their own lives and therefore attain deeper understanding of the overall message by watching scenes that show everyday routines such as rice planting-harvesting, fishing, or like Yasuko who is looking for a suitable partner. Within all the suffering, Imamura also adds elements which suggest that these characters are trying to move on but due to their conditions and the society denying their very existence, they are constantly being reminded of their experiences. Imamura expertly introduces the question of how one can move on after experiencing a horrific event which results in the exclusion from the society. He unearths the issue regarding psychological state that truly existed during the post-bombing period. Imamura's intention is not to point finger or condemn anyone for the war. America, is only mentioned directly once on the radio news regarding the possibility of their using nuclear weapons during Korean War. This is when Shizuma gives the most powerful statement of the film.


            “Human beings learn nothing. They strangle themselves. Unjust peace is better than a war of justice.   Why can’t they see?”


Even though Imamura's intention is not to condemn, the anti-war theme is very clear. Different characters in the film, many times make statements blaming the war for their situations. ‘Black Rain’, a war-related film that is free from political persuasiveness and blame, highlights the fact that the effects of war don’t immediately disappear just because one side is defeated. For those who were there the effects lingered long afterwards.

 

References: 

Broderick, Mick (ed.). 1996. Hibakusha Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Nuclear Image in Japanese Film. Kegan Paul International, London.

Cavanaugh, Carole. 2001. “A Working Ideology for Hiroshima: Imamura Shohei's Black Rain” in D. Washburn and C. Cavenaugh (eds.),Word and Image in Japanese Cinema. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.

http://www.crosscurrents.org/FeleppaSpring2004.htm
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7973211

 

By: Pim

Take home message

The main focus of ‘Black Rain’ is not the immediate effects of the bombing in Hiroshima but rather the long-term ones. Through Yasuko and those around her, Imamura the director, portraits how the hibakushas (atomic bomb survivors) have to suffer not only with physical and psychological sufferings after the war, but they also have to go through the agony of being discriminated by no other than their own Japanese society. In other words, the survivors are now the victims of social mistreatments. Just as mentioned in James Goodwin’s ‘Akira Kurosawa and the Atomic Age’, this social stigma is caused by the marginalization of hibakushas who are viewed as inferiors to the non-victims. What is worse, most of the hibakushas themselves accept this caste division as if it is destiny.

In this scene Shizuma and his two friends are being regarded as lazy for not doing any work by the widow in the village despite the fact that she is aware of their health conditions. She shows no sympathy for them and even makes remarks such as they are lucky for having experienced the bombing. In the English translation the widow calls them ‘happy-go-lucky people’ which regards as easy-going or carefree people so it does not sound like she is attacking them. However, in Japanese she actully uses the world ‘kekko na gomibun’ which within its easy-going context, there’s a meaning of being inferior and condemnation attached to it so in a way she is really looking down on them.

Throughout the film Yasuko is being disregarded as a proper partner because she is rained on by the black rain. Villagers make rumors about her health condition which results in failures of many of her marriage proposals. Yasuko is victimized by a superstitious society where suspicion and fear influence the people’s attitude towards her. However, Yasuko herself understands the villagers’ behaviors towards her and eventually accepts this caste division. She begins warning them of her potential condition and goes as far as talking them out of marrying her.  Inescapably Yasuko is made to become flawed even though she may not be. As a consequence, she constantly apologizes as if it is all her fault.

To sum it up, the ‘Black Rain’ illustrates the damages of the nuclear weapons which go beyond physical effects. They have the power to tear apart any society, the evident was what happened to the Japanese society which was once interdependent and all about personal relationship.

By: Pim, Ai

Timeline

Black Rain (Kuroi Ame) 1989

00:00   -  02:29  Yasuko prepares for the family evacuation ;  opening credits over

                           the  tea ceremony preparation

02:30   -  06:14  Shizuma boards the train for work; the atomic bomb hits; Yasuko

                          gets rained on by black rain

06:15   -  09:25  Shizuma reunites with his wife and Yasuko; cross through the city

09:26   -  11:24  Brothers reunite; other victims suffering

11:25   -  11:43  Five years later in Fukuyama; Yasuko obtains health certificate;

                          anti-nuclear event announcement

11:44   -  19:57  Yuichi stops the car; Shizuma tells Shigeko not to over work

19:58   -  26:20  Shizuma fish with friends; the widow’s  remark about the survivor;

                          Fumiko comes home

26:21   -  31:40  Women villagers conversation; Shizuma copies Yasuko and his

                          diaries

31:41   -  43:50  Flash back to their time in the city; father tells about his son;

                          ceremony for the deaths; the surrender of Japan

43:51   -  50:57  Shizuma and friends breed carps; Yuichi fights with drivers; Aono’s

                          marriage proposal

50:58   -  56:27 Fumiko’s mother asks for Kotaro’s help; Yasuko’s grandmother

                         tells her not to get married; Yasuko talks with Aono

56:28   -  1:02:03 Katayama dies; flash back to the survivor’s shelter;

1:02:04-  1:09:56 Yasuko tells Aono about Katayama; Yasuko tells Shizuma she

                            wants to stay

1:09:57-  1:18:47 Shizuma and Yasuko visit her mother’s grave;  Yasuko’s father

                            asks for her stay; Shigeko becomes sick

1:18:48-  1:25:18 Yuichi gives Jizo to Yasuko; Shizuma visits Shokichi; Shizuma

                            gives a copy of the diaries to the doctor

1:25:19-  1:38:43 Yuichi and his fear; Shokichi and Kotaro die; Shigeko’s

                            hallucination; Yuichi’s mother asks for Yasuko

1:38:44-  1:51:19 Yasuko becomes sick; Shigeko dies; Yasuko’s hallucination

1:51:20-  1:55:00 Shizuma comment about peace; Yasuko carries way in an

                            ambulance; Shizuma pondering about Yasuko’s future.

1:55:01- 1:57:29  Closing credits over Fukuyama’s scenery

                  

By: Pim

Summary of the film

“Black Rain” or “Kuroi Ame” in Japanese, is an adaptation of the 1965 book of the same name by author Masuji Ibuse. The film is shot in black and white by director Shohei Imamura and was released in the year 1989.  The story focuses on the lives of a family as they deal with the immediate and long-term aftermath of the bombing in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Shigematsu Shizuma (Kitamura Kazuo) who is nearest to the hypocenter among his family when the bombing begins is directly affected by the blast. His wife, Shigeko (Ichihara Etsuko) who is some distant away from the hypocenter is also affected. Yazuko (Tanaka Yoshiko), Shizuma’s niece is not in the city at the time of the blast but is rained on by an unprecedented form of “black rain” on her way back. The three make it out of the ruins of Hiroshima while witnessing the destructive power of the atomic bomb and the suffering of its victims. After that, five years have passed and the Shigematsus and Yasuko are now living with Shizuma’s mother in the village with many other hibakushas (atomic bomb survivors) from Hiroshima. Many of the hibakushas including Shizuma and his wife show signs of radiation sickness and there are also some that suffer from psychological illusions such as Yuichi, a former soldier. Yasuko, who is rumored to have been affected by the radiation due to her contact with black rain is having difficulty finding a suitable husband. Shizuma tries to prove the rumor false by obtaining Yasuko’s health certificate and showing Yasuko’s diary as well as his in order to explain their experiences in Hiroshima. However, one by one the hibakushas in the village start to die from the radiation sickness including Yasuko’s aunt. Yasuko eventually realizes that she herself also has radiation sickness. The film ends with Yasuko being driven away into the distance in an ambulance leaving the audience wondering whether or not she will survive.

                                                                         Trailer  

By: Pim

Introduction to the Blog

Hello Everyone!

First of all thank you for visiting us. We are students from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU). Our group members include Ai, Pim, Sandy, and Keiji. Our group’s name is ABC (Atomic Bomb Cinema!). We are currently taking a subject which is related to the studying of atomic bomb cinema. “Black Rain (Kuroi Ame)“ which is a Japanese film released in the 1989 is the film we have chosen to analyze for our group project. We wish to combine what we have learned from our lectures as well as information we have gathered from our own researches and apply that to our analyses of the film Black Rain through different perspectives.  We welcome any comments regarding the film so please feel free to do so  :D




By: Pim

New Blog!

Hi everyone,

this is the external blog that we were talking about in the MTG.

I hope  everyone can manage to do all the assigment by Friday :)

Thanks,

P.s

This blog's design or rayout is temporary, we can change it anytime.

By: Ai