74 children died. 51 minutes of silence. One school. One lie. What really happened?
On March 11, 2011, Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki City was engulfed by a tsunami, and 74 children, or 70% of the school's children, were killed. 51 minutes elapsed between the earthquake and when the tsunami reached the school. The school was informed of the tsunami and a school bus was on standby, but students did not evacuate. Okawa Elementary was the only school that suffered a large number of casualties in this earthquake. This documentary follows the lawsuit that followed the disaster, where the parents sought the truth behind the tragedy.
Direction
Terada lets silence do the screaming
Editing
Court transcripts become devastating poetry
Production
Restrained vérité that refuses sensationalism
Director
Kazuhiro Terada
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film captures 'kizuna' (bonds) redefined—community solidarity transformed into collective legal action, rare in consensus-oriented Japan.
Okawa's tragedy became a test case for disaster liability; the ruling that officials were 70% responsible broke precedent for government accountability in Japan.
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