emuir-1 I found this movie in my collection yesterday and realizing that I had never watched it and having no idea where it came from, I decided to view it.The depiction of the two sides, US and Japanese was impartial, both sides were dealing with similar issues, both sides had doves and hawks, although the Japanese were portrayed as quite good looking, tidy and well mannered, whereas the Americans were portrayed as cigar chomping, sloppy, loud-mouths swigging drinks as they advocated a 'kick ass' policy toward the 'Nips'. Easy to see this was not an American production. James F. Byrne in particular was shown to be a hawk in favor of showing the world that the US had the upper hand. Having spent a couple of billion on developing the bomb, the hawks wanted the taxpayer to see where their money had gone, every last dime. Equally, the Japanese military, having never lost a war, were against the very idea of unconditional surrender as they really did not understand what it mean. The politicians toyed with the dilemma of whether to sacrifice tens of thousands of people, and what the result might mean in the future, which I found rather strange given that 100,000 people died in one night in the saturation bombing of Tokyo, and that the Japanese had been responsible for millions of dead, not to mention the barbarity toward civilian internees in SE Asia. After Germany's surrender, the Americans were able to concentrate on very heavy bombing of Japan, which was on its last legs, but the military wanted to go out with a bang.My biggest complaint with the DVD was the lack of captions which meant that I could not follow the English. Fortunately, half the film was in Japanese which was subtitled, so I could understand their point of view. The color was such that I kept wondering what was wrong with my TV set as it was coming and going, until I read later that it was in a mix of black and white newsreel footage, tinted black and white for the drama, and normal color for the interviews with survivors. I would rate the actual film higher than 6, but for the lack of captions and the awful color, which in my opinion was pretentious.

pmcmurry First of all, it would have been absolutely impossible to find a actor who looked and acted more like Harry Truman that Kenneth Walsh. Second, the most fascinating aspects of this movie relate to what was happening in Japan at the closing of the war. The idea that a majority of the military officers would have rather seen Japan cease to exist as a people than to surrender really provides some counter-balance to all of the recent revisionist history that claims that Japan was in the process of surrendering and that the U.S. used the A-bomb simply to avenge earlier Japanese treachery. "Hiroshima" is historical film-making at its best.

rblayer Perhaps the best made-for-tv movie I've ever seen. Historically correct and blended with real footage and interviews of actual participants I was spell-bound for three hours. The haunting musical score only added to the emotional story telling of this significant historical event.

amazme3 I found this masterpiece of a film by perusing the cable tv guide. Being a war history enthusiast, I was drawn to the content of the movie, only to realize that the production and actors and characters and images and storyline were equally well done. None of the performers are big celebrities, but that fact takes nothing away from their incredible performances and likenesses to the true people they portrayed. Kenneth Welsh as Harry Truman and Wesley Addy as Sec of War Stimson dominate with memorable renditions, but the entire cast deserves almost equal praise. I was not aware that President Truman was on a battleship when the uranium bomb descended on Hiroshima. The attitudes of American and Japanese leaders were nicely shown, and Truman's portrayed thoughtfulness and decisiveness were impressive. One of the infrequent 10's of my movie history. The docu-drama format gave the piece an even more realistic appeal.