This documentary was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary, Feature, losing to The True Glory. There will be spoilers ahead:
This documentary is more or less just that-a documentary, about the bombing campaign conducted in 1945 against the Japanese empire during the closing months of World War II. It discusses the bases at Guam, Saipan and Tinian. It goes over the painstaking preparations of the air crews and ground crews before a mission. A flight is shown, though it's fairly obvious that the scenes with a bomber crew are staged. Portions of this are "reenactments" and portions look to be newsreel footage shot by military cameramen.
The fire-bombing of Tokyo is touched on, as is the taking of Iwo Jima. The fighter escorts for the bombers are shown. The arduous, time-consuming nature of the missions is shown, as is the toll taken on the crews and the tension in the mission.
A couple of crashes are shown, as are the rescue efforts to try to save planes and crews. The piece closes with a brief comment on the last two bombs dropped, the atomic bombs which ended the war, hence the title. This isn't really about those two bombs. Their mention almost seems like an anticlimax.
This is well worth watching and can be found online.
This documentary is more or less just that-a documentary, about the bombing campaign conducted in 1945 against the Japanese empire during the closing months of World War II. It discusses the bases at Guam, Saipan and Tinian. It goes over the painstaking preparations of the air crews and ground crews before a mission. A flight is shown, though it's fairly obvious that the scenes with a bomber crew are staged. Portions of this are "reenactments" and portions look to be newsreel footage shot by military cameramen.
The fire-bombing of Tokyo is touched on, as is the taking of Iwo Jima. The fighter escorts for the bombers are shown. The arduous, time-consuming nature of the missions is shown, as is the toll taken on the crews and the tension in the mission.
A couple of crashes are shown, as are the rescue efforts to try to save planes and crews. The piece closes with a brief comment on the last two bombs dropped, the atomic bombs which ended the war, hence the title. This isn't really about those two bombs. Their mention almost seems like an anticlimax.
This is well worth watching and can be found online.