Heiners Filmseiten – Children of Hiroshima (en)

Children of Hiroshima (Genbaku no ko – 原爆の子)

German title: Die Kinder von Hiroshima
Francaise title: Les Enfants d’Hiroshima
Spain title: Los niños de Hiroshima
Russian title: Дети Хиросимы
Original title: Genbaku no ko – 原爆の子

Alternative titles:
Kinder von Hiroshima | Children of the Atomic Bomb | Atom-Bombed Children in Hiroshima | Gembaku no ko

Drama – Japan
Production year: 1952
Movie length: 37 minutes

Director: Kaneto Shindô
Writer: Kaneto Shindô, Arata Osada
Cinematograph: Takeo Ito
Music: Akira Ifukube

Movie description:

Post war Hiroshima: It’s been six years since the last time she visited her hometown. Takako faces the after effects of the A-bomb when she travels around the city to call on old friends.

Six years after the atomic bombing of 06 August 1945, the school teacher Takako Ishikawa re-turns to Hiroshima on her vacation to visit friends and to honor her parents that died in the bombing. Takako was raised by her uncle and aunt. While in her hometown she stays with her friend, Natsue Morikawa, who has become infertile due to the side effect of the A-bomb. While walking along the destroyed city, she sees a former family friend, Iwakichi, who worked with her father, and is almost blind and has become a beggar. She pays a visit to his shanty in the slums and discovers that his grandson, Tarō, is living in an orphanage since Iwakichi’s shanty is no place to raise the child. When Morikawa tells her that three former pupils from the kindergarten have survived to the bombing, Takako pays a visit to each one of them and finds how the A-bomb and the radiation have affected their lives. Before returning home, Takako asks Iwakachi to let her take Tarō with her; but their bond is very strong.

Boy Actors