Shortly after midnight on March 10, 1945, the United States commenced the most destructive air raid in human history when American B-29s relentlessly firebombed civilian neighborhoods in Tokyo. When the dust finally settled and the infernos began to subside, over 100,000 dead men, women, and children were discovered underneath destroyed buildings and clogging the rivers of Japan’s largest city. Seventy years later, the last living survivors of the Tokyo bombing are still fighting their government for recognition and reparations for the unimaginable trauma they endured that night in 1945, and for the families they lost in the attack.
Paper City is a heartbreaking documentary on a number of levels. As the survivors — who were all teenagers and young adults at the time of the bombing — recount the horrors they experienced that night and beyond, it becomes impossible not to rethink and reexamine U.S. policy toward civilian death during wartime, then and now (not to mention the way many of us were conditioned to absorb such atrocities as heroic by our educational systems). Adding to these somber reflections is the uphill battle these now elderly survivors face to ensure that their stories aren’t forgotten forever by petitioning a reluctant Japanese government for formal recognition of what they see as Japan’s negligent role in what happened to them.
These nearly infuriating circumstances are offset by director Adrian Francis’ deliberately relaxed pacing and beautifully shot, grounded withdrawals into Japanese calligraphy. Ceremonial activities such as these offer an escapist yet poignant retreat into tradition and calm, and serve as a wonderful counter to the film’s weighty subject matter. Unfortunately, there can be no happy ending to a story like this, as the events that make up its backbone are historical and cemented in time, but Francis nevertheless sheds plenty of vexing light on an often overlooked aspect of war and its aftermath.
Paper City was screened as part of our coverage of the 25th Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
Originally published by ASHEVILLE MOVIES.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.