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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
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The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom: Horror and Hope in Japan
Sometimes utter simplicity is utterly powerful. Simplicity and power: That's the nature and impact of Lucy Walker's "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom". An accomplished and well-lauded filmmaker, Walker did not set out to capture the horror of Japan's 9.0 Richter scale earthquake in 2011. She was, instead, planning on shooting the annual cherry blossom festival. The earthquake and tsunami occurred during her pre-trip preparations.
Predictably and understandably, Walker captured the dramatic contrast of nature's creative and destructive forces. For almost forty minutes we listen to survivors expressing their grief and hope – sometimes while standing amidst the massive destruction. Their spoken words appear in subtitles necessitating at least two viewings to fully appreciate Walker's film. Their words cannot but break our hearts. One man was speaking of the loss of his "dearest old friend." He was dutifully cooperating with the filmmakers by addressing the interviewer standing at the camera's side. He'd witnessed his friend swept away. He broke down crying, describing his feelings of loss, and I noticed he didn't cooperate with the filmmakers on just one word which he spoke directly to camera: Unbearable.
And we see and learn about the cherry tree and its blossoms – Japan's symbol of renewal – which appear in the spring time, a few weeks after March's devastation. The unhappy coincidence of Walker's planned shoot and Japan's disaster made for a much more powerful, penetrating, haunting film – one which I'll be talking about for days.
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" debuts exclusively on HBO, on July 16th.