Released February 2011.
Directed by Robert Richter, Produced by Kathleen Sullivan and Richter, edited
by Ruth Schell.
The ultimate wish--abolition of
all nuclear weapons—features Sakue Shimohira, age ten and hiding in a Nagasaki
shelter when the nuclear bomb dropped on August 9, 1945. She survived and has
dedicated her life to making sure that what happened to her will never happen
to anyone again.
Today she continues to speak out and inspire people everywhere.
Her story of
surival and its aftermath is the core of this powerfully moving documentary. We
follow her, in the company of students Fumi and Haruka, as they talk to high
school and college students in London, Paris,
New York and Nagasaki,
and we see Sakue in a gripping encounter with a Nazi Holocaust survivor.
Interwoven with
archival footage, Sakue responds to their questions and describes in graphic
detail what happened on August 9, 1945 to her, her family and her city. 75,000
were instantly killed, another 75,000 experienced the consequences of
radiation, fires, famine, disease and discrimination. Even ten years after
World War Two ended and her sister had the "courage to die" by
committing suicide, Sakue found the "courage to live" and join in the
global struggle for nuclear abolition.
As Sakue's story unfolds we learn from experts about the U.S. decision to use
the bomb, dissents by Generals MacArthur and Eisenhower, the anti-nuclear
movement of the 1980s, nuclear proliferation today and the drive for power and
dominance that motivates it, the importance of nuclear issues to be part of the
curriculum, and the status today of efforts to reduce the nuclear arsenals of
the world.
A unique piece of history, The Ultimate Wish focuses on a living witness to one
of the world's most momentous events. At the same time it is an inspirational biography
of a courageous woman, and an alert to everyone today about the dangers of
continued nuclear proliferation.
- The film challenges the widely held U.S.
assumption that dropping the bomb on Nagasaki
was essential for military victory. The provocative arguments about that
decision have never been part of a U.S.
documentary.
- It presents information about an almost unknown part of
post World War II history: the Press Code imposed by the U.S.
occupation government on Japan’s
media. Prohibiting media reports on the bomb or its health effects, the
Code had a significant effect on how survivors were mistreated in their
own country and how their health problems were misunderstood.
- It presents information about the Atomic Bomb Casualty
Commission, a U.S. agency that
gathered data from thousands of survivors, sent that data to the U.S.—not
Japan—and did not attempt to ameliorate the health problems of the
survivors.
- It also is innovative in crossing generations, by
showing an elderly bomb survivor accompanied by students who have taken up
her cause.
57 minutes