July 8, 2024

There were a slew of documentaries made towards the end of WWII to bolster US public opinion and celebrate the imminent defeat of the Japanese. To that end, this rather dry affair uses an admittedly interesting array of archive to illustrate the US Air Force's detailed plans and complex logistics to carpet bomb and strafe what was left of the industry on Honshu island before the ultimate visit of Enola Gay. It has a job to do, and in 1945 it prob… read the rest.

There were a slew of documentaries made towards the end of WWII to bolster US public opinion and celebrate the imminent defeat of the Japanese. To that end, this rather dry affair uses an admittedly interesting array of archive to illustrate the US Air Force's detailed plans and complex logistics to carpet bomb and strafe what was left of the industry on Honshu island before the ultimate visit of Enola Gay. It has a job to do, and in 1945 it probably did it. Many years later, though, it looks more one sided and propagandist with an unashamedly patriotic narrative from Reed Hadley that could not have failed to resonate with a domestic population sick to the back teeth of the war and it's horrors. What happened to the civilians on the ground - many of them farmers or fishermen or just in the wrong place at the wrong time? I don't suppose balance was in it's sight-lines and taken in that spirit it's an interesting watch but one that is a mite uncomfortable to view now.

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