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The Amanpour Hour

Interview with Director James Cameron; Interview with Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz; Interview with Children's Entertainer and Educator Ms. Rachel; A Matter of Life and Death (And Paris Real Estate); Interview with "My Mother's Wedding" Actress and Director Kristin Scott Thomas; Archive: Interview with Hiroshima Survivor Setsuko Thurlow; 60 Years After the Voting Rights Act Was Signed into Law. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired August 09, 2025 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:59:41]

KARA SWISHER, CO-FOUNDER, RECODE: So my unpopular opinion has to do with South Park and the new owners of Paramount. A lot has been blamed on them, even though the previous administration had done all those, some of which were heinous deals.

I'm really intrigued by what they're going to do, because media -- I'm tired of the trope that media is dying. It's not. You have an amazing brand like that with all those great brands, you should be able to make a business out of it.

I was very intrigued. I went to their launch with David Ellison, who is the new owner. He's put his own money in, and he is the son of Larry Ellison.

But this is a lot of money these investors, Gerry Cardinale and others are committing. So let's see what they can do. Like a lot of media, people are assuming the worst. I'm going to say they put a lot of money in. Let's see what they can do. And that media doesn't have to be dead if you're innovative.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: That's -- well let's hope that's true. Media not dead if we're innovative.

Everyone, thank you so much for being here. Great to spend a Saturday morning with all of you.

And thank you for watching "TABLE FOR FIVE". I'm going to be on later this afternoon for "CNN NEWSROOM".

In the meantime, CNN's coverage continues right now.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. And welcome to THE AMANPOUR HOUR.

Here's where we're headed this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) AMANPOUR: 80 years since America dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Academy award winning director James Cameron teams up with the former Energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, to make sure we never forget the catastrophe that changed the world.

Then --

RACHEL ACCURSO, MS. RACHEL: Let's go back to sleep, (INAUDIBLE). We're so tired.

She's been called the Mr. Rogers of our time. YouTube toddler sensation Ms. Rachel about why she's using her platform to speak out for Gaza's suffering children.

Also --

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: On the day that Andre dies, will he be pleased that you'll be able to move in?

AMANPOUR: In a report from Paris, dream apartments for sale at bargain prices. The catch, someone must die.

Plus --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mummy, tonight is your last night as a Munson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What? You're not going to change your name again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But Mrs. Jeffrey Loveglove.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Beautiful name. It's not his fault.

AMANPOUR: Kristin Scott Thomas steps behind the camera for her directorial debut in "My Mother's Wedding".

And from my archives --

SETSUKO THURLOW, HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR: Then suddenly, I saw the bluish white flash, and I still have the sensation of floating up in the air.

AMANPOUR: My interview with Hiroshima survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Setsuko Thurlow, one of the last witnesses to that nuclear horror.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London.

80 years ago today, America dropped a second atomic bomb, Fat Man, on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, just three days after Little Boy had devastated Hiroshima. More than 100,000 people were killed instantly, and many, many more perished from the slow and lingering effects of radiation.

Few witnesses to that terror remain. In fact, our nuclear nightmares have best been reflected on the big screen and the little one by director James Cameron's "Terminator" series, which prophesies an A.I.-triggered atomic Armageddon.

Now Cameron plans a new film inspired by the book "Ghosts of Hiroshima", an unbelievable story of people who actually witnessed both blasts. The aim isn't just ghoulish entertainment, it is to remember at a time 80 years later, when nuclear saber rattling continues between two big powers and more smaller nations seek those weapons.

Now, Cameron joined me this week also, along with former Energy secretary and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Ernest Moniz. He was a key player in the JCPOA-Iran nuclear deal.

Here's our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Let me first ask you, James Cameron, adapting the book, "Ghost of Hiroshima," by Charles Pellegrino, it will be your first, you know, non-"Avatar" feature since "Titanic."

What drew you to that book? What were the stories in that book? What about Charles Pellegrino drew you to it? Tell me.

JAMES CAMERON, DIRECTOR: Well, let me set this -- the table for this. I've known Charlie, as I call him, Pellegrino for a long time. He was actually one of our consultants on "Titanic".

I've read a lot of his historical, archeological and scientific books. I know him quite well. I know what a meticulous researcher he is.

He's talked about this book for ages and ages and sent me early versions of it. So, I've read it with interest, great interest a number of times now.

What compels me out of all that and what I think the human hook for understanding this tragedy is, is to follow a handful, specifically two will be featured of survivors, that actually survived not only the Hiroshima blast, but then went to Nagasaki and three days later were hit again.

[11:04:42]

CAMERON: And in the case of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, he, in the latter part of his life, actually traveled the world making public addresses and so on. And he spread one very simple message, which is, I've been the recipient of the impact of a nuclear weapon twice, not once, but twice. And I can forgive that.

I can forgive that. And as a result, I believe you, everybody in the audience, you can forgive anything.

AMANPOUR: So, Secretary, your NTI, I mean you're trying to change people's, you know, perspectives and get them serious about this. Do you think it's hard work? Do you think people have forgotten the idea of what these terrible bombs did and could do again?

ERNEST MONIZ, FORMER U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY AND CO-CHAIR AND CEO, NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE: I think the -- there remains a false narrative that the possession of these nuclear weapons is actually making us safer when they're not. That's the narrative I think, ultimately, we need to change.

Harry Truman said, quite correctly, these nuclear weapons, they are not military weapons. Dropped on a city, they indiscriminately kill combatants, non-combatants, women, children, et cetera. They should not be thought of as military weapons, but as weapons of mass destruction, indiscriminate mass destruction when certainly dropped in an urban center.

AMANPOUR: Now, you talked about survivors. So, James, I want to ask you about survivors. First of all, I mean, it's incredible to think that there were survivors of two bombs. What -- how did they get from Hiroshima to Nagasaki anyway, and why? And secondly, what about the man that you visited in hospital, also a survivor, and you made a pledge to him, I think?

CAMERON: That's absolutely true. So, I'll start with -- I'll do Yamaguchisan second. He's the one that I actually met in person and I believe he sort of passed the baton, a sacred duty to me.

There's another young man that I wanted -- I want to tell his story, named Kenchi Harata (ph), who was a bit away from the hypo center or the -- or sort of ground zero when the bomb went off. He was injured. He fought his way back into a total firestorm.

The city was flattened, it was on fire. He tried to get back to his home where his young bride, they've only been married a few months was -- and he found -- he was almost unable to identify where his house had been.

He spent two days digging through the rubble. He found her bones still hot, still, you know, burned. He found a bowl that had been given to them by her parents as a wedding gift. He put her bones into the bowl. He covered it up with a towel or a shirt, and he got on the train to take it to her parents in Nagasaki.

And he got there just in time to explain to them what had happened, and then there was a second flash.

What must have been going through that young man's mind, I cannot even conceive. And, you know, this film scares me. I fear making this film. I fear the images that I'm going to have to create, to be honest and to be truthful.

I talked to Steven Spielberg about this. And when he was making "Saving Private Ryan", and you remember that opens with about a 25- minute sequence of the U.S. forces storming the beach, you know, Normandy -- Omaha Beach.

AMANPOUR: Yes. CAMERON: And he said, I wanted to use every cinematic trick I could to make it as intense as possible because I knew I would fail to even come close to what it was really like for those men on that beach. And I think, ok, that's a clue for how to do this. Now, make the film hard to watch.

But as I said, I've made this pledge to this double bomb survivor Tsutomu Yamaguchi. He was lying on his death, but he was dying of cancer. Of course, I think all the survivors ultimately died of cancer.

You know, Yamaguchi told me his story. He knew why I was there, to explore making this film, and he took my hands and he said, I'm done. This -- I've done everything I can do. I now pass this to you.

AMANPOUR: Well, look, I want to ask you, Secretary Moniz, because -- let me just ask you this because it's quite worrying. J.D. Vance recently called the military, you know, violence between the nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, quote, "fundamentally, none of our business".

Apparently, Trump did not agree with him, thank goodness, and called them and told them to, you know -- basically told them to stop this.

Can you tell me what kind of diplomacy, should be the proper diplomacy right now, and particularly in terms of the only other one we've known, and that is the Cuban Missile crisis?

[11:09:44]

MONIZ: My problem is what happens when the rules are not being followed? When people make big mistakes, as we have had in the past?

The United States, since the end of the Cold War, this was in data, we had a mistaken chain of command with nuclear weapons left unguarded in the United States.

We've had a nuclear bomb dropped accidentally by the United States domestically. We've had a training tape in the United States, left in the wrong computer.

My problem is, if you create this kind of tense relationship and one of these accidents occurs, you may get the wrong outcome.

AMANPOUR: James Cameron, I want to ask you about, again, culture and reality. The book, "The Ghost of Hiroshima," discussed the overlap between sci-fi and reality. What do you make of this relationship between fiction and reality, and sci-fi and reality?

CAMERON: I'm at a point right now where I have a hard time writing science fiction. I've -- I'm tasked with writing a new "Terminator" story. I've been unable to get started on that very far because I don't know what to say that won't be overtaken by real events.

We are in -- we are living in a science fiction age right now. And the only way out is through -- by using our intelligence, by using our curiosity, by using our command of technology, but also, by really understanding the stark probabilities that we face.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And that full conversation is available online.

Coming up later on the show, into my archive for a conversation with one of Hiroshima's few remaining survivors.

And just ahead, she may just be the most famous person in the world right now, at least amongst toddlers. The beloved children's entertainer Ms. Rachel on standing up for Gaza's children and the backlash.

[11:11:45]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

The catastrophe rapidly unfolding in Gaza just gets worse and worse as negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of hostages remain deadlocked and the Israeli prime minister reportedly plans a full military takeover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Israel take control of all of Gaza?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We intend to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: As the killing and now starvation among Gaza's children has been growing, along with the global outrage, one unexpected voice is speaking out on platforms which have billions of views. The beloved children's entertainer and toddler sensation Ms. Rachel shows empathy and compassion for Palestinian children, often called the Mr. Rogers of our time, who famously also had championed civil rights.

In this TV exclusive, Ms. Rachel told me about taking a stand despite the predictable backlash and insults.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Rachel Accurso, also known as Ms. Rachel to I know millions and millions of children and their parents around the world, welcome to our program.

RACHEL ACCURSO, MS. RACHEL: Thank you so much for having me, Christiane.

AMANPOUR: So, we are really interested, not just because you're such a powerhouse in the, you know, children's programming and the connection with children, but because of how you've stepped out and stepped up for some of the world's most, you know, suffering children and most particularly in Gaza recently, although there are others as well.

You probably know this new acronym that came up because of this conflict, WCNSF, Wounded Child, No Surviving Family. What was it that made you step out and support these children in Gaza?

MS. RACHEL: How could I not seeing what was happening on our screens, hearing from Save the Children who had firsthand accounts, knowing that so many children were losing their lives. It's up to -- over 18,000 children.

So, as an early childhood educator, I know what children need. They need food, it's being blocked. And they need water, it's being blocked. They need to be in school, their schools have been bombed. They need medical care.

I know what children need to thrive, and I know what holds them back. And it was very clear to me, along with so many others in our country and around the world, that it's so critical to speak up.

AMANPOUR: I want to play this piece of video which is deeply, deeply affecting, and it's two kids, Celine and Sila (ph), watching your show from Gaza surrounded by the rubble of their home. And it's just the most incredible image really.

What did you think? And they've got joy on their faces too when they see it and they can communicate and maybe for a second they forget where they are. How did that move you?

MS. RACHEL: Oh, it moves me beyond words that I could bring a little bit of joy in the midst of unimaginable suffering.

I'm just so grateful that I can be there for them and I know what my responsibility is as somebody who has this platform to stand up for them. So, I'm doing everything I can.

[11:19:41]

AMANPOUR: I want to play a little video again, a soundbite really, with people talking. It's a video of the brothers, I know you know this well, Maher and Malik, who posted this video, talking to them from their tent after their home had been completely, obviously, devastated.

And I can see your smile. I mean, you just communicate and feel without me even having to go into it. So, here's the -- here's this little piece of their sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MS. RACHEL: Hi, Maher (ph). Hi, Malik (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Ms. Rachel. How are you? Send you love from Gaza.

MS. RACHEL: Thank you for the love. I really appreciate that. I'm sending you love back. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell our story?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: OK. Ms. Rachel, this obviously still brings you to tears.

MS. RACHEL: I see them like I see my son and the fact that they could have everything they need and it's miles away, it's so frustrating and I just wish we could wrap them all up in love and give them everything they need and we could. That's what's so painful.

AMANPOUR: You know, there has been a backlash to you. And of course, you've spoken out about the Israeli children, the infants and the toddlers who were wounded, who were kidnapped even on October 7th, and that doesn't seem to satisfy the critics.

Tell me about how you've suddenly found yourself and how you're dealing with empathy for all children, but some people don't want to see it for some children.

MS. RACHEL: It's so tough. I was talking to James Elder from UNICEF and he was telling me about having to start at square one with Palestinian children, that they're human. So, the dehumanization is so painful.

And then I have so much empathy for an Israeli mom waiting for her child to come home. And I have so much empathy for the people of Gaza losing their families. And these little ones, this little girl, Maha, who's lost her entire family; another little boy Adam, who lost his entire family.

These aren't numbers, these are little ones who are so sweet. I have videos of both of them. They're just like the sweetest kids.

And look at my Instagram, look at Raja's (ph) joy. Look at her sweet innocence. She's just a delight. That little girl is incredible. And she's doing really well now because she has -- she is here and she is getting medical care and she's using prosthetics.

But then, you also see her and say she shouldn't have lost her legs and her mom shouldn't be video chatting her sons that are away from her in Gaza, and they can't eat on FaceTime anymore because her sons are hungry.

I just -- I feel, feel, feel for everyone. And I know who I am and I think the backlash, it's painful, but then you have to be like, I know who I am and I know what's right.

And I will say, Christiane, that there's an -- I think there's a little bit of a narrative that there's the -- there's so much backlash and there was before, but I realized, you know, you think you're on the Internet and you're getting a lot of backlash and then you walk out on the street and people come up to you in tears and say, thank you so much for talking about Gaza. It's so heartbreaking.

AMANPOUR: Can I ask you about -- because you are Ms. Rachel and you are, you know, the current generation's Mr. Rogers. So, for anybody who doesn't know, Mr. Rogers was a beloved television personality. Again, a children's personality on television.

You shot -- you filmed a special episode with Rahaf (ph) who you'd just been talking about, the amputee victim who's now in the United States.

Mr. Rogers himself was quite political in his own way in that he was a major personality in civil rights. And he had that, you know, moment where he sat with the -- with his legs in a kid's pool with a member of the black community.

And it was at a time when there was so much backlash about desegregation and particularly around pools. Whites didn't like, in America, sharing their pools with blacks at that time.

So, you are actually navigating a moment which does demand people to stand on one side or the other of history.

MS. RACHEL: I have a screenshot of the pool moment but I kept thinking about how hard that must have been and he did get tons of hate and backlash for a lot of things he did.

But I read that -- I read about a family that that was the end of that conversation for them, if pools should be segregated. They were like, Mr. Rogers did it.

So, you know, I think it's -- I wanted to show that Rahaf is my friend and I love her and that I think she's precious and that I think she deserves everything that any other child deserves. Children are equal and I see them all the same.

[11:24:48]

AMANPOUR: Well, Rachel Accurso, Ms. Rachel, you have impacted millions and millions of people, kids zero to four, and their parents obviously all over the world. And we are really happy that you came on our program to talk about it.

So, thanks for joining us.

MS. RACHEL: I'm so honored to join you. Thank you so much for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Coming up next, something very different. We go on a trip to Paris and a fascinating look at the life and death gamble among some hopeful homeowners.

[11:25:15]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back as now, we go to one of the world's great capitals, Paris. Beloved by tourists as the city of love and lights but like everywhere in the world would be, homeowners have a hard time getting on that property ladder. Enter a scheme called viager.

There's just one catch, and it's a doozy as CNN's Paris bureau chief Saskya Vandoorne explains in this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VANDOORNE: On the day that Andre dies, will you be pleased that you'll be able to move in?

Buying an apartment in Paris isn't cheap, but there's a quirky, slightly morbid loophole that can land you on at half the price. You're essentially betting on how long the seller is going to stick around. It's known as "viager".

ILYA, BUYER: I have a lot of time in front of me.

VANDOORNE: Ilya was hoping to finally buy a dream home in Paris. After nearly a year of searching, she found a gorgeous south-facing place for half the price of the others.

ILYA: And I think it's really well arranged.

ANDRE, HOMEOWNER: For such a small apartment, it's exceptional.

VANDOORNE: This place is owned by Andre, who has no intention of moving out.

ANDRE: I needed the money and I needed the place. So this system allowed me to stay here as long as I wanted and get the money I needed.

VANDOORNE: To buy Andre's apartment, Ilya gave him a single deposit in the range of 200,000 euros.

ANDRE: Once a year, there is a party here. The neighbors party. It's very pleasant.

VANDOORNE: But in a typical viager, a buyer pays an upfront sum and then small monthly payments to the seller who keeps living in the home until they die.

Viager sales make up just 1 percent of the French property market, but interest surged during COVID. And it's not just locals rolling the dice, more and more foreign buyers are getting in on the gamble, too.

Homa Ravel (ph), an American-Iranian, already has four viager homes for her kids. And she's eyeing her fifth.

HOMA RAVEL, AMERICAN-IRANIAN: I think in the beginning, friends and family were like, oh, really? You got involved with that?

But this is helping the person. Like, I mean, this is a comfortable situation for them.

VANDOORNE: But it's quite a bet. The longer the seller lives, the more you end up paying and that upfront discount starts to shrink. And you're comfortable with it being a gamble.

ANDRE: Oh, quite. After my death, I really don't worry about myself. The gamble is mainly for the owner.

VANDOORNE: It's all remarkably transparent. Listings don't just include the seller's age, they often estimate their life expectancy, too.

Most cases are uneventful. But in one instance, a buyer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a case involving a madeleine and the death of an elderly seller.

So does it take a special type of person or a special type of mindset to accept the viager system?

ANDRE: Because of the death issue, I think that's why people feel uncomfortable. It's not my case. I'm, as I said, I'm very lucky.

I'm really happy to have met you like this. I'm delighted.

For me, death is not an issue. It's just the end of life and it's ok.

VANDOORNE: Saskya Vandoorne, CNN -- Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Gosh, there are a lot of questions outstanding there.

Coming up next, a rom-com icon from "Four Weddings and a Funeral", to her directorial debut, Kristin Scott Thomas joins me next with "My Mother's Wedding", inspired by her own family tragedies and triumphs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS, ACTRESS AND DIRECTOR: You know, yes, terrible things happened, but actually it was all very happy. We managed to bumble along and we managed to find a way to be happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:33:38]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back to the program.

You may know Kristin Scott Thomas as the ruthless MI5 spymaster in "Slow Horses", or from the Oscar winning film "The English Patient", and of course, the crowd favorite rom-com "Four Weddings and a Funeral".

Now, for the first time, she's in front and behind the camera, directing herself and a starry cast including Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham. "My Mother's Wedding" is a deeply personal look at grief, family and the losses that shape Thomas' early life.

She joined me here in the studio to tell all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Kristin Scott Thomas, welcome to the program.

THOMAS: Thank you very much.

AMANPOUR: So, how exciting is it to be, well, selling your first directorial debut?

THOMAS: It's incredibly exciting and it's obviously something I've never done before. So, it's a huge adventure. A totally new world for me. And I just -- yes, super exciting.

AMANPOUR: How much of it is autobiographic? I know the details are slightly different, obviously.

THOMAS: Yes. Well, it's inspired by my childhood events and how it affected my life and how I imagined it affects other people's lives because what happened to me as a child became a kind of -- it was like the title of every -- it was always mentioned in every magazine article I did or anything like that.

AMANPOUR: That you lost two fathers --

THOMAS: That I lost my father --

AMANPOUR: -- not one.

[11:39:45]

THOMAS: -- and my stepfather. They were both pilots. They're both called Simon and they both -- there was something kind of fascinating for people about that.

And so, I just decided to kind of make it my story instead of just being a kind of footnote in somebody else's article.

AMANPOUR: You play your mother.

THOMAS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: You play the character Diana. Was she as emblematic in your life as your departed fathers?

THOMAS: Well, she was everything really. I mean, she died about two years ago, just after we finished shooting. But she was very -- she was an extraordinary person. When you think that she brought up five children in these incredibly complicated circumstances where she kept getting kind of pushed back, pushed back by losing her partner and the father to her children.

So, she was incredibly resilient. And yes, she was definitely a beacon to us all. Definitely. You know, she was -- but she was just trying to do her best. She's totally unprepared for this.

When you think that she was -- by the time she was 32, 33, she'd lost two husbands and had five children. I mean, I can't even imagine that now.

AMANPOUR: We've got a couple of clips. I'm going to play the first one, because again, this is obviously about -- it's called "My Mother's Wedding". So, it's about your mother's third marriage. And this is a hen party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Anyway, mommy, tonight is your last night as a Munson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What? You are not going to change your name again?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course I'm going to take Jeff's name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mrs. Jeffrey Loveglove?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, are you serious? I mean, really?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I am Mrs. Frost, Mrs. Munson and now, Mrs. Loveglove.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Loveglove.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The name -- it's a beautiful name. It's not his fault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: You made the name up?

THOMAS: Well, I looked for names that -- I wanted a really good crusty old name.

AMANPOUR: It wasn't the real third father's name?

THOMAS: No, no, no. None of that is real, rest assured.

AMANPOUR: But they raise a point, don't they, that you've done all of this, A, you've had their names. And now, you're going to give up that name. And what does it mean for you as a woman? I mean, there's so much in that scene.

THOMAS: Yes, yes. I think -- I think that's what we were sort of exploring in the film is, what is in a name? What it means to -- and later, one of the main sort of arguments in the film is around a name, taking a name.

AMANPOUR: What are you saying? What is your message to the people who see this film with this film? You've chosen various scenes. It's very bucolic, it's very "Pride and Prejudice"-esque in terms of the look. Very, very English.

THOMAS: Yes.

AMANPOUR: Very English countryside experience.

THOMAS: Yes. That's what I wanted. I wanted to reproduce the sort of glorious summers that we don't seem to get anymore.

And so, that -- remembering that time as being completely perfect and yet that time was stained by these terrible catastrophic events.

And so, I think a lot of it came from the fact that I was constantly being told that I had a tragic childhood. Did I? You know, yes. Terrible things happened. But actually, it was all very happy.

We managed to bumble along and we managed to find a way to be happy between the sisters, between me and my brothers and sisters, for example.

And I think in our film, you can tell by the way these three actresses portray these three sisters with so much love and fun and teasing and mockery and fighting and anger. And, you know, all the things that sisters do.

AMANPOUR: Thank you so much, Kristin Scott Thomas --

THOMAS: Thank you.

AMANPOUR: -- for being with us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: And you can watch the rest of that interview online and "My Mother's Wedding" is in theaters this weekend in the United States and Canada.

And after a break. A witness to some of humanity's darkest history. What Setsuko Thurlow told me about living through the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

[11:43:42]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

We started our program marking the 80th remembrance of America, dropping not one, but two atomic bombs on its World War II enemy, Japan. We heard from James Cameron the vital necessity of preserving the memories of that horror.

So from my archives, here is Setsuko Thurlow. She was 13 years old when the first nuclear bomb hit Hiroshima. Her school was just a mile away from the epicenter of that explosion.

She spent her life campaigning against that ever happening again, and won a Nobel Peace Prize for the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons in 2017.

Here's what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You were just a 13-year-old girl when that bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. What were you doing at the time and what do you remember?

SETSUKO THURLOW, HIROSHIMA ATOMIC BOMB SURVIVOR: I remember everything vividly. What was I doing? I was a 13-year grade eight student in junior high school, and Japan was losing badly.

They had to recruit us, the young children to do the work for the army. We were in the huge wooden building on the second floor one mile away from the ground zero.

[11:49:49]

THURLOW: And then, at 8:00 we started the morning assembly. And when the Major Yanai would speaking to us, giving us the cheer pep talk.

Then suddenly, I saw the bluish white flash, and I still have the sensation of floating up in the air. And when I regained the consciousness, I found myself in the total darkness and total silence. And I tried to move my body, but I couldn't. So, I knew I was facing death.

Then I started hearing faint voices of my girlfriends around. And they were asking for help from their mothers, from their God.

And then, somebody, a strong male voice said that, don't give up. Don't give up. Keep pushing, keep kicking.

I'm trying to free you. So, with this man in the dark, I was rescued. I was come -- I was able to come out of the building. But most of the 30 girls were burned to death alive.

AMANPOUR: You have used your memory and that experience to spend a whole lifetime of activism against nuclear proliferation and warning about the dangers that only really you and your fellow survivors can talk about, the danger of nuclear war. Where -- what do you think now about the state of security in that regard around the world?

THURLOW: We have been kept as hostage for all these years. We -- each one of us human being deserves better than this. I feel very disturbed.

And as Mr. Obama said before he left the workout, I think, United States is the only nation which has actually used it. So, therefore, United States has special moral responsibility to lead toward a world without nuclear weapon. That was his favorite expression. That was good.

So, I am begging American people, we just cannot continue to live in this condition. And I have the image of massive grotesque death. This stays with me.

And as Christiane said, yes, those images have been guiding me and not to give up my struggle because I believe in the decent life and human rights of each and every individual on this planet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: Only a very, very few people have the authority to speak as Setsuko does. And now, at 93 years old, she's still campaigning to protect that memory at a time when there are even and ever more nuclear armed nations and saber rattling becomes worryingly normalized.

But when we come back, we remember a different anniversary, where humanity took an enormous step forward. 60 years since the Voting Rights Act became law in America. How that hard-won progress is facing a new test under Trump 2.0.

[11:53:31]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

AMANPOUR: Welcome back.

We've talked a lot about nuclear weapons this hour as the world remembers the catastrophic events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a grim reminder of the damage humanity can do. But we're also capable of giant leaps forward and long, hard marches towards a better place of freedom and equality.

60 years ago this week, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. It was known as the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement. It was designed to end racial discrimination at the ballot box.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNDON B. JOHNSON, FORMER PRESIDENT OIF THE UNITED STATES: There is. No moral issue. It is wrong, deadly wrong to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.

There is no issue of states' rights or national rights. There is only the struggle for human rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Yet all these decades later, Johnson's firm conviction is being challenged as the Supreme Court reexamines key protections within that law.

Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis made it his life's work to struggle mightily and bend that arc of history towards justice. Here's what he told me shortly before he died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN LEWIS, FORMER DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN: We should embrace the future and not be afraid. And I said to my colleagues in the Congress and others, when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just you have a moral obligation to speak up, to speak out and do something about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:59:47]

AMANPOUR: John Lewis called that "making good trouble".

Now, six decades on, the voting rights act remains a testament to what's possible and what's right to the power of people when they stand up, speak out, and fight for equality. It remains up to the people to protect those hard-won rights when they are under threat again.

That's all we have time for this week. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching and I'll see you again next week.