It opens with some static images of the destruction. A
title card tells us: “March 11, 2011: A M9 earthquake triggered a monster
tsunami that devastated Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant.” (This film does rely on title cards, rather than
narration, to provide information not imparted directly by those interviewed.)
Thousands were evacuated. And the film introduces us to several of them at the
shelters provided at schools.
One man tells us, “All that was left of our house was
the foundation.” If that’s not bad enough, he goes on: “From relatives
to friends, all the cremations are over… We lost a lot of relatives. They found
Grandma just the other day.” He has a list of the deceased from his
neighborhood, and points to a couple of names. “This is our aunt. And our
daughter-in-law.” There are interviews with other people who lost family
members in the tsunami. Interestingly and sadly, the venting of the power plant
apparently kept people from searching for survivors, for everyone had to
evacuate.
The tsunami caused so much destruction, but the town’s
trouble was just beginning. A title card tells us: “On March 12, at 3:36
p.m., there was a hydrogen explosion at Reactor 1.” Then on March 14 and
March 15, there were explosions Reactors 3, 2 and 4. Katsutaka Idogawa, Mayor
of Futaba, recounts hearing the first explosion while trying to help evacuate
people.
This film provides footage of the day-to-day business of
trying to get back to normal, focusing on a family moving into public housing,
talking about homework and getting a television and so on. So this film in some
ways is a document of people dealing with a natural disaster. But it is also
very much about the question of nuclear power. The explosions raise issues
about nuclear power, with calls coming from various people to halt it.
One man who worked at the plant shows his Radiation
Exposure Record. “Once every three months, they measure the amount of
radiation exposure you got,” he explains. Another employee at the nuclear
power plant says he’d prefer to get another job, but hasn’t been able to. “So
I’d like to keep my job and take breaks to minimize my exposure.” That is
so depressing, partly because it’s so understandable.
The film also gives us a brief history of the town, and
the nuclear power plant’s part in it. We learn that the nuclear power plant
brought a lot of money into the town for a while. A library was built with that
money, for example. The mayor shows photos of the town, emphasizing its beauty
and its sense of community. But this prosperity was short-lived. A title card
informs us, “By 2007, Futaba was one of the 10 poorest towns in Japan, and
almost went bankrupt.”
Perhaps the most moving scenes are those where residents
are issued temporary return permits. They have to suit up in protective gear,
and are issued plastic bags to store any items they retrieve from their homes.
(An earlier scene shows children making wish lists of their possessions they
hope they parents can bring back with them.) They’re allowed two hours. The
footage of the devastation is incredible, and the whole sequence is
gut-wrenching.
Special Features
The DVD contains two special features. The first is a
video address to the Berlin Film Festival by Mayor of Futaba Katsutaka Idogawa,
in which he says he hopes that the film will give everyone around the world a
better understanding of how dangerous nuclear power is.
The second special feature is an interview with the
film’s director, Atsushi Funahashi, in which he talks about the film’s title,
and about gaining the trust of the people in order to shoot the documentary.
This interview is conducted in English.
Nuclear Nation was released on DVD on October 21,
2014 through First Run Features.
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