Barefoot Gen screens at Japanese Embassy on 25th July

In a rather timely fashion given the recent theatrical release of In This Corner of the World, the Japanese Embassy are hosting a free screening of another anime film set in World War II Hiroshima, in the form of the classic Barefoot Gen.

The film will be screened at the embassy - in Piccadilly, London - on Tuesday, 25th July from 6PM. The 1983 movie will be screened in Japanese with English subtitles, and is described as follows:

Gen Nakaoka is in the second grade at the local elementary school. He is living with his parents, an older sister and a younger brother. His mother is pregnant and is expecting to give birth soon. Although the family is poor, their lives are happy and harmonious. On 6 August, the US bomber Enola Gay takes off from Tinian Base and chooses the city of Hiroshima as its target. At 8:15am, the bomb is dropped. After an intense flash of lightning, the city is destroyed, with burned corpses everywhere and thousands of people, horribly injured by pieces of glass, are bleeding and dying. Gen miraculously survives. Running back home, he finds his father, sister and brother trapped under the collapsed house. He and his mother desperately try to save them, but their efforts fail. Gen and a neighbour, realising it is hopeless, carry the mother away from the now burning house. They watch it in helpless horror. The baby is born prematurely. 

On 15 August, the Japanese Government surrenders. Gen’s mother says ‘Why not sooner!’ The food shortage becomes so serious that the mother and the baby suffer from malnutrition. One day, Gen meets a boy who resembles his dead brother and who has lost his family in the A-bomb attack, and welcomes him as a member of his family. Gen’s little sister dies from lack of food. Stricken with A-bomb sickness and afraid it will get worse, Gen sees a ray of hope in the barren fields. 

As mentioned, the screening itself is entirely free, but you do need to register to attend the screening - for more details and to register to see the film, head on over to this EventBrite web page.