The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

Oscar-nominated director Lucy Walker set out to make “a visual haiku about cherry blossoms” in Japan but changed her plans radically following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country on March 11, 2011. Taken with the cherry blossom’s beauty and ability to symbolize the ephemeral quality of life, Walker links the disaster with the power of Japan’s most beloved flower to heal and inspire in this stunning visual poem. Opening with a long clip of jaw-dropping real life footage of the tsunami, the film shows water sweeping houses and buildings along like toys, lifting up cars and swallowing people. Interviews with survivors in a northern Japanese village in the heart of the disaster, whose residents share their traumatic personal experiences of the tsunami, are framed by the metaphor of cherry blossoms, a symbol deep in Japanese culture that suggests rebirth.