By now, nine years after the meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on March 11, there have been many books and documentaries about the disaster. Setsuro Wakamatsu¡¯s ¡°Fukushima 50,¡± however, is the first film dramatization to focus on front-line workers whose labors prevented a far greater catastrophe.
Based on a non-fiction book by Ryusho Kadota that compiled more than 90 interviews with everyone from plant rank-and-filers to former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the story has life-or-death drama, with workers struggling to open vents as their allotted minutes in radiation hot zones tick by.
So why did it take so long to bring Kadota¡¯s 2012 book to the big screen? One reason may be scale: The production team re-created the sprawling Fukushima No. 1 plant site and, with a large cast and CG effects, the chaos swirling around it.
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