The List: Movies About the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Movie #4 – Fat Man and Little Boy

Year – 1989

Fat Man and Little Boy is the fictionalized story of the Manhattan Project. The key word being “fictionalized”. In 1943, the U.S. and Germany were in a race to build the first atomic bomb. The winner would get to live. Presumably.

The fact is – nobody really knew for sure. Some scientists thought detonating a small atomic device would set off a chain reaction in the atmosphere which would engulf the planet in flames. Or, you know…not. The fact is they didn’t know but they did it anyway. Which makes for high drama.

Again, “presumably”.

Unfortunately the film never quite finds a consistent tone. And the conversations regarding the ethical implications of what they’re creating all sound like “topic starters” for an 8^th grade history class. Additionally, the cinematography bathes everything in a golden haze and muted brown which add an odd nostalgic glow to all of those discussions about “oh shit maybe we’re about to destroy the planet”.