White Light, Black Rain
A documentary by Steven Okazaki

Watched this just-out-on-DVD documentary about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The documentary itself is rife with cliches, and a glaring contradiction as a somber message announces at the outset that this material has been suppressed by the American government yet later we see news reels and TV shows that talk openly about the horrors of the aftermath.

Fortunately the information transcends the form. I was gripped from start to finish.

The story about the two girls who came upon their mother's charred body that fell into a pile of ash once they touched it will haunt me to the end of my days.

It also cooled my jets somewhat about liking the idea presented in the recent Nelson DeMille novel, Wildfire, which suggests that we have nukes ready to convert the Middle East into a glowing glass crater should a nuke go off in the states. I still think that's going to happen, but the thought of all those babies and children having to go through such a horror is beyond my ability to process.

I heartily recommend anyone who's interested in hearing about it from the people who were there.

Here's the official web site.