White Light, Black Rain – The Destruction Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki

Government efforts to expand the aid given to A-bomb victims is in the news today, which reminded me of a very good documentary I watched recently. White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a HBO documentary that focuses on the experiences of atomic bomb survivors:

On August 6th and 9th, 1945, two atomic bombs vaporized 210,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those who survived are called “hibakusha”–people exposed to the bomb–and there are an estimated 200,000 living today. Today, with the threat of nuclear weapons of mass destruction frighteningly real- the world’s arsenal capable of repeating the destruction at Hiroshima 400,000 times over, Oscar® award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki revisits the bombings and shares the stories of the only people to have survived a nuclear attack.

The entire documentary happens to be viewable on Google Video, so I’ve embedded it in this post. If you’re interested in this topic, please watch it:

More information about the film, including a study guide for teachers who want to include the film in their classes, can be found on the film’s official website.