Show of the week: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

This short documentary, a 2012 Oscar nominee, opens with dramatic amateur footage of the tsunami that devastated Japan in March 2011, plus heartrending interviews with survivors who lost loved ones and virtually everything they owned. Yet as the film follows the first few weeks of agonizing recovery in one of the hardest-hit areas, director Lucy Walker gracefully redirects focus to the cherry blossoms that not only herald the arrival of spring but serve as cogent symbols of the resilience of the Japanese people. Monday, July 16, at 10 p.m., HBO

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