Laurence Lévesque’s powerful documentary follows a woman who discovers a support network among her mother’s generation of survivors of the nuclear blast No words are spoken during the first five minutes of Laurence Lévesque’s documentary. In a rustic house on the island city of Nagasaki, a Japanese woman in her 60s, Noriko, draws back the curtains to let in the glow of dawn. The tranquil mood, however, is deceptive. Once her childhood home, the place holds a lifetime of secrets, which Norkia only discovers after her parents’ death. While clearing out the house, she comes across letters received by her mother that shed light on her turmoil as a survivor of Nagasaki’s atomic bombing in 1945.Noriko has always known her mother was a hibakusha – a term referring to people who survived the nuclear bombs. Already scarred by psychological and physical trauma, the victims also faced ostracism in the postwar period, with many barred from work or marriage. Perhaps due to the stigma, Noriko’s mother mentioned little of this to Noriko and her siblings. The letters, however, reveal a moving network of support among the hibakusha, as well as those who lost their loved ones in the bombings. In one heartbreaking note, a grieving mother speaks of sending a healthy son into the army, only to receive his hair and clipped nails in return. Continue reading...