Arrow Academy Blu-ray Review: Hiroshima

Reviewed By Jason Lockard

There are some events that are so iconic in history that everyone knows about it. One such event was the bombing of Hiroshima. August 6th, 1945 marked the end of World War II. About 7 years after this event in 1953 Hideo Sekigawa began making a film documenting the horrific events.

This film has been more or less out of print in any form since it's original 1953 release. Now the good folks at Arrow Academy for the 75 anniversary of this horrific event is giving this film a Blu-ray release that it so richly deserves.

The film follows the events and the after math of this event through the eyes of the targeted civilians, in general, and the children, in particular, as they live amidst the war, then as victims of the atomic bomb, and subsequently as they try to subsist in the aftermath - if they were not one of the 100,000 corpses, that is.

Sometimes a film that is retelling the events years later can feel a bit dated, but I think the fact that director Shinpei Takeda documented the event just a few short years after the actual event and used some of the real survivors in the film, that bring a sense of realism to the project.

Also Arrow Academy has restored this film to the complete version. They restored the footage from the international edit that was released in the United States in 1955. So not only can collectors finally get this film on home video for the first time ever. They will get it in the complete format.

I have to say this is an effective piece of cinema. Maybe because of the use of actual Hiroshima victims. But one way or the other your heart goes out to the innocent people who were effected by this horrible bomb. Children wondering through the rubble looking for their parents. Adults trapped under huge amounts of large debris. Or large numbers of victims crawling to the water to cool their burning flesh.

This is not an easy film to sit through but it is a necessary one for people to understand how bad the A-Bomb was and why it should never be used again. The results are just to grave.

As with all Arrow releases there are special features on their Blu-rays and the Hiroshima one is no different.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed Japanese audio
• Archive interview with actress Yumeji Tsukioka
• Hiroshima Nagasaki Download (2011), 73-minute documentary featuring interviews with survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings now residing in the United States, with an introduction by the director Shinpei Takeda
• New video essay by Jasper Sharp
• Newly commissioned artwork by Scott Saslow

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mick Broderick.

The film has been cleaned up and is presented in 1080p but is in it's original full screen format. While I would say it looks pretty impressive for a film that has not seen the light of day since it's original release. I must be honest. There is good amount of flicker, lines and debris on the print.

While there may not be a huge amount of extras on the disc. The feature length documentary featuring interviews with some of the survivors of the event is totally awesome! And the essay by Jasper Sharp really give the viewer a lot of information on this and other Japanese films. These are great addition to this Blu-ray.

So if you are a fan of Japanese films, dramas or historical films The 75th anniversary Blu-ray of Hiroshima is for you. Head over to MVDShop.com or Amazon.com and get your copy today.


Out of 4 Film Reels we would score the Arrow Academy Blu-ray release.

Because of the damage to the print and for being a tad light of bonus features. But it is still a quality release.