Documentaries (Updated 6/2006)

After the Cloud Lifted: Hiroshima's Stories of Recovery (1996).

Interviews with several Japanese survivors of the bombings. Dir. Richard M. Santoro. (35 mins.)

The Atomic Cafe (1982).

Darkly comic look at Cold War attempts to cope with the threat of nuclear warfare: such things as bomb shelters, defensive training for school children, downplaying the effects of radiation. Material drawn from newsreels, television programs, military films, and other elements of 1940s and 1950s popular culture. Dir. Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader, Pierce Rafferty. (88 mins.)

Atomic Journeys: Welcome to Ground Zero (1999).

Focuses on ten or more American nuclear testing sites and programs like Project Plowshare and Vela Uniform. (52 mins.)

Dark Circle (1982).

Anti-nuclear film, a mixture of "old" and "new" -- focuses on the lingering effects of the atomic bomb on inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki plus the effects of plutonium poisoning on people living around the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver. The effects of the bomb are not limited to those involved in nuclear war. (82 mins.)

The Day After: Perils of Nuclear War (1983).

ABC Viewpoint show, hosted by Ted Koppel, which ran immediately after the feature film also titled The Day After (see the feature film list). Distinguished panel: Henry Kissinger, Elie Wiesel, William Buckley, Carl Sagan, Brent Scowcroft, Robert McNamara, George Schultz. (120 mins.)

The Day after Trinity (1980).

Scientists and witnesses involved in the creation and testing of the atomic bomb reflect on the Manhattan project and its leader, J. Robert Oppenheimer, who upon completion of his invention became a powerful spokesperson against the nuclear arms race. Pro and con discussions of the morality of the bomb. Academy Award nomination for best documentary. Dir. Jon Else. (88 mins.)

Enola Gay and the Atomic Bombing of Japan (1995).

A&E/History Channel documentary, originally titled "Rain of Ruin." Begins with Szilard's scientific discoveries before Pearl Harbor and the Manhattan Project and covers events through the dropping of the bomb. At the conclusion we hear that "Enola Gay's renewal to factory condition memorializes the American industrial might that built her in the first place." Interviews with the Enola Gay's crew run behind the final credits. (75 mins.)

Fallout: Nuclear Energy and Destruction (1997).

People's Century program moves from the atomic bomb tests and the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki into the "fear and paranoia" caused by Cold War nuclear testing, the Cuban Missile crisis, Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl. (60 mins.)

Hiroshima (1995).

Docu-drama that dramatizes in generous detail the events and deliberations surrounding the ending the war on both American and Japanese sides. Characterizations of all the major American players: Truman, Groves, Stimson, Byrnes, Oppenheimer, and so forth. Would make interesting viewing along with reading the "Crossroads" exhibit. Kenneth Welsh, Richard Masur, Saul Rubinek, dir. Roger Spottiswoode. (165 mins.)

Hiroshima: Why the Bomb Was Dropped (1995).

Peter Jennings ABC-TV news special. The Enola Gay controversy is the frame for raising doubts about the necessity of dropping the bomb. Covers the "new" historical information uncovered after the war that the curators of the original exhibit wanted to make the public more aware of. (67 mins.)

Hiroshima - Nagasaki, August 1945 (1970).

archival footage showing physical and human destruction right after the bombs that was not seen in public till this time. Written by Paul Ronder, photographed by Akira Iwasaki, produced by Erik Barnouw. (16 mins.)

The History Machine (1984).

Part 16 ("The United States Enters World War II: December 7, 1941") shows the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Roosevelt's entire declaration of war speech, and Part 24 deals with Hiroshima. Newsreel kind of documentary.

The Men Who Brought The Dawn: The Atomic Missions of "The Enola Gay" & "Bock's Car" (1995).

Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets and other crewmen on both flights tell their first-hand stories. Appropriate collateral viewing when discussing the veterans' part in the controversy. (64 mins.)

Museums in a Democratic Society (1995).

The afternoon session of the April 19, 1995, symposium at the University of Michigan occasioned by the controvery. (160 mins.)

Pearl Harbor (2000).

Three-part History Channel program provides a wealth of detail about the beginning of the war. (150 mins.)

Radio Bikini (1987).

As Cold War opponents the United States and Russia offer plans to the United Nations for controlling atomic tests, A-Bomb experiments on the Bikini atoll in the Pacific less than a year after Hiroshima were a media spectacle and exposed more people -- American soldiers mostly denied medical benefits -- to direct radioactivity than any other American test. Nominated for an Academy Award. Dir. Robert Stone. (60 mins.)

Sadako and the Thousand Cranes (1990).

True story of a Hiroshima girl two years old at the time of the bombing, dying of leukemia at age twelve, working to fulfill an old Japanese tradition of folding 1,000 paper cranes to regain her health. Narrated by Liv Ullmann. (30 mins.)

Summer of the Bomb (1989).

Gar Alperovitz featured in this documentary about discussions in the summer of 1945 about using the bomb.

Trinity and Beyond [The Atomic Bomb Movie] (1995).

Chronicles the top secret, strange, and visually compelling history and motivation for design, production, and testing of Atomic and Hydrogen bombs by the United States, year by year from 1945 to the test-ban treaty in 1963. Graphic pictures of the tests that NASM director Martin Harwit witnessed. Dir. Peter Kuran. (120 mins.)

The War Game (1965).

Academy-Award winning British documentary simulating nuclear Holocaust aftermath. Made for the BBC but deemed so shocking it was never shown on television. Dir. Peter Watkins. (48 mins.)