Atomic People is the type of documentary that makes you take a moment after watching to allow the information and stories to wash over you. The horrifying accounts provided by the Hibakusha survivors overwhelm you. It is an unforgettable film.

The bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 were unparalleled in human history. Presented as a triumphant moment for Allied forces, the devastation wreaked on the two cities and its people has never received quite as much coverage as the bombings. Almost 80 years after the events, survivors detail their struggles in the aftermath.

As one of our survivors states, “War makes people lose their humanity”, and that is never clearer than in Atomic People. The way that these children at the time had to figure out a way to navigate this new life, filled with death, trauma and neglect, is devastating. It is the side of the victims of those two bombs that is always conveniently swept under the carpet. America made those frankly diabolical weapons, ended the war, and got commended for it.

But what about those who died and those who survived only to die from radiation poisoning? What about those orphans or those children who lost all their friends? What about those who tried to move on decades later but couldn’t because other people from their traumatised nation would not allow the “Hibakusha” (surviving victims of the atomic bombs) to marry into their families because they were tainted? These are the people that Co-directors Benedict Sanderson and Megumi Inman talk to in their essential documentary Atomic People.

Learning and seeing what a lot of the time is hidden from us about what happened and what it was like just after those attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be an eye-opener for some. They will only know of the glorified tales the Americans told of those events and forget about the hundreds of thousands of people who have died from those two weapons being released. The stories of the survivors rock you, and as they occasionally struggle to repeat them, you will feel immensely for them.

However, after a while, that pain turns to anger. You begin to learn the tactics the allied forces used to stifle communication about what happened and what continued to occur in those two areas. It is difficult not to get emotional even almost 80 years later, with Atomic People doing a spectacular job at pulling the focus back onto the survivors, the victims.

As if what they went through wasn’t enough, learning about the ABCC (Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission) twists you up in your insides even more than you thought imaginable. But, from the outside looking in, you would imagine their creation would be a source of good for the Japanese, that they would be there to help those who needed it, and while they would not treat them, they would give them vital health checks.

Except according to our survivors, they did the tests but never revealed the results to the citizens. With one, her father would go each year and get some lovely bread and juice, but then, nothing. Until he went to his own doctor and found he had lung cancer. After his death, the ABCC called numerous times, asking to dissect his body. It’s genuinely gut-wrenching to hear these people relive such memories, and it fuels the anger that was already overflowing to an almost bursting point.

The final kick the Hibakusha survivors endured is the forced shame of being a survivor. Not sufficient that they endured what they did, but now their own people would shun them out of fear of their bloodline being “infected”. So, what do they do? They lie. They lie just to try and begin to live an everyday life, and it’s almost too heartbreaking to handle.

Sanderson and Inman keep Atomic People reasonably simple from a narrative standpoint. It consists mostly of talking heads, archive footage, and some typical b-roll. This is what you would expect from a documentary like this, yet it is the only artistic standpoint the duo should utilise. The stories and information provided require us to see survivors’ faces and emotions.

We need to see them and the destruction that went on. There is no need for flairs here; keeping Atomic People in this format allows us to feel the most for them. They should be commended for focusing on their stories and giving them the voice that needed to be heard.

★★★★ 1/2

For more coverage of Sheffield Doc Fest 2024, please check out the reviews below.

Black Snow

Britain’s Forgotten Prisoners

Plastic People

Her Name Was Moviola

My Sextortion Diary

Nocturnes

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