10 min.

What was Hiroshima like?

As an American it is never a topic that fills ones thoughts or
captures ones mind.  They were the bad guys in the Great War
and that is that.  In the film Hiroshima Mon Amour the idea
that Hiroshima actually happened to real people is brought
right to the front in the first ten minutes.  The
French-speaking heroine of the film explains in a monotone
voice-over how she remembers Hiroshima, while her Japanese
counter-part explains to her that she does not.

Is Hiroshima a forgotten tragedy?  Do people ever really think
about it happening?  As the film slowly weaves inside and
outside of the museum dedicated to the catastrophe remembering
is forced into the viewers lap.  The filmmaker is saying to
the viewer, "You will remember" even while the voice-over is
insisting that we don't.  The archival footage is so raw and
real that it is impossible to look away even though the
rawness is the very reason to want to look away.

The weakness of the film is that it leaves this rawness and
enters into an over-dramatic fantasy level that is hard to
relate to.  While the story of the film would normally be
somewhat compelling it cannot follow up the very real and
actual event of Hiroshima.  The dramatic camera shots and
lighting can't compete with the real life footage of burn
victims and deformity of the bombing.

The realness of the first ten minutes pulls the viewer in with
incredible and brutal realism.  The filmmaker saying, "Here it
is, do you remember?"