Nagasaki - Memories of my son (2015)

	Also Known As: Haha to Kuraseba
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Yoji Yamada
	Actors: Sayuri Yoshinaga, Kazunari Ninomiya, Haru Kuroki,
	Country: J
	Genre: Drama, War
	Conditions of visioning: 28.05.2016, Mousonturm Saal, Japanese with German subtitles, NCF2016
Synopsis: Nobuko (Yoshinaga) works in Nagasaki, Japan as a midwife. Her son died 3 years earlier from the atomic bomb. On August 9, 1948, her son appears in front of her again. Since that time, Koji (Ninomiya) appears in front of her and they reminiscence about pleasant times. These happy, but bizarre moments seem eternal.
Review: After the second world war the atmosphere depicted in the streets of Nagasaki are very similar to the visual impression of Always - Sunset on third street. The story does not deal only with the struggle for life of destroyed families in Nagasaki. And not only by the Atomic bomb dropped by the US Army. A mother who lost her complete family. A man having lost his family.  The sadness of a mother for her dead son.  Unfortunately the whole worries of the dead son deal with her promised wife, Machiko (Kuroki), who is taking care of the mother. Nothing about the death of the blossoming medicine student. Nothing about the injustice of the atomic bomb.  The acting of the mother, so kind with everyone, so respectful, so sad also, so lost in her memories, is very very touching. Even if sometimes I would have preferred her reacting more vehemently. But so are Japanese people. The roles of the other characters are well written with authenticity and the acting confirmed this. Once again Japanese show a huge endurance, while they could have blamed the US army. There are just a few images of war, bombing and Pikabon (nickname given to the bomb).  One month after having been in the Peace memorial of Hiroshima, in the museum as well as in the park, my head was still full of pictures of these disasters, full of pictures of the life before and the ruins after.
Rating: 6 /10