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HBO: What brought you to this story?
Steven Okazaki: It's a subject that I've felt a connection to
since my first documentary, Survivors, which
was about Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors
living in California. For, various reasons, that
film didn't turn out as I'd hoped, so I had this
gnawing desire to go back to the subject one
day.
If you say the word "Hiroshima," people don't
talk about the bomb or the effects of the
bomb. They just start arguing about the
politics around it, whether it was right or
wrong, whether the second bomb was
necessary, how the decision was influenced by
the Russians entering the war, how Japan
deserved because of the atrocities in China,
etc. It turns into an argument that doesn't go
anywhere. Even after 60 years, it still does.
To me, these arguments are a way of avoiding
the human tragedy and the real horrors of
radiation exposure.
In frustration, I decided to make a personal
film, on my own, basically a home movie. So I
went to Hiroshima with a mini-digital camera,
sometimes my wife held the boom, and made
a little film about what I know about
Hiroshima -- The woman at the little lunch
place who was 4 years old at the time, what
her story was, or, what her story was not.
HBO: How did you find the subjects in the film? And
how did you gain their trust to open up?
Steven Okazaki: It was fairly informal. We spent two weeks in
Hiroshima and asked people for
recommendations and introductions. They
said, "Oh, there's this lady who collects
ceramic buttons from the clothing of people
who died in the bombing. You should meet
her." We said, "Okay, that sounds interesting.
Let's film her." Many survivors don't want to
talk about what happened, but a lot do. They
can talk about endlessly. It's something
they've lived with everyday for 60 years.
HBO: You mentioned how difficult a thing it is for
people to speak about the Hiroshima, even to
this day. Can you speak a little bit to that?
Steven Okazaki: In the United States, the veterans of World
War II are in some ways the conscience of the
country. They know what war is, how horrible
it is. And I think, in Japan, the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki survivors play a similar role. They
remind us to get beyond that first bit of
fervor, you know, let's bomb the crap out of
them, let's nuke Iraq or whatever, and to
think about what the human cost will be.
Both the veterans here and the survivors
there have something very valuable to pass
on. But soon they'll be gone.
In Hiroshima, except for the one building that
they've preserved, there's no trace of the
bomb, and most people living there are not
that conscious of the history of the city.
You read the news and it's scarier now than
ever, the possibility of nuclear weapons being
used again. For a while I think people
thought, well, that won't happen again, it's too
horrible, we've learned. But memories are
short. Seventy-five percent of the population
was born after 1945. And the country is
already forgetting.
Steven Okazaki: The ironic thing is the United States forced
Japan to have their so-called "peace
constitution" which states they cannot
maintain a military. But now the United
States wants Japan to rebuild its military so if
there is trouble in Asia, with North Korea or
China, Japan will be a military ally. That, of
course, is a concern to both China and Korea,
because they haven't forgotten what Japan
did in World War II.
HBO: Once you finished shooting, how did things
progress from there?
Steven Okazaki: It's a curious thing. I did the film because I
felt like I should, that it was my obligation to
tell this story, but I didn't think about anyone
seeing the film. I thought, if it shows to a
couple church groups or peace groups, I will
have fulfilled my obligation. But as I was
finishing the film, I got a call from HBO and
they said, "What are you working on?" And I
said, "Oh, I'm finishing up this little film. I
don't know if you'd be interested." And they
said, "Well, send it over, let us look at it." So
they helped finish the film, then lo and
behold, it got an Oscar nomination
(Documentary Short Subject). It's kind of the
little film that could, really, a nice surprise
how it turned out.
The film kind of takes you by the hand
through a difficult, scary subject. It's a
subject that people have a lot of trepidation
about, so I'm surprised how good the response
has been, not only with the Oscar nomination,
but with audiences as well.
HBO: What are you hoping people will take away
from it?
Steven Okazaki: As I said, whenever people talk about
Hiroshima, it turns into an argument about
who was right and who was wrong that can't
be resolved. It's like two parents arguing over
a child, but no one's talking to the child about
how they are affected. THE MUSHROON
CLUB doesn't get into the arguments. It just
introduces you to some of the people who
experienced the bomb. They tell their stories
and we listen, that's it. And if a few people
stop arguing, hear something of what the
survivors have to say, maybe get interested
enough to want to know more, that's huge.
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