Hugo Fuller's Reviews > Hiroshima Nagasaki: The Real Story of the Atomic Bombings and Their Aftermath

After watching Oppenheimer, I realised I didn't know a lot about the dropping of the bombs on Japan and the rationale behind it. The film touches on the events, but presents them through the lens of Oppenheimer's life and experience. It doesn't really engage with the morality of the decision(s) in a meaningful way.

About 2/3 of Hiroshima Nagasaki focuses on the events leading up to the bombings, including the appalling fire bombings of German and Japanese cities, and the political machinations which drove the huge machine underlying the Manhattan Project.

I found myself rushing a little toward the first bomb on Hiroshima, wanting to know what exactly had happened, but also having trepidations about what I'd read. The moments immediately after the bombings are so visceral it almost feels fictional. Genuine cosmic horror, doomsday scenes, the pits of humanity. That this could have been done to humans, and then deemed an acceptable act in total war, shocked me.

What also shocked me was how the US covered up the radiation sickness and other side effects of the bomb, actively suppressing humanitarian efforts to treat the wounded who would die horrifying deaths as a result.

Was there any other way of ending the war? Ham's contention is that there was and I struggle to disagree.

I think I'll read Barefoot Gen at some stage to see how Japanese people portray the experience.