HawaiiNewsNow Reports: New documentary details Date of Infamy

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -

The film is a frame-by-frame account that took a year to create.

A new documentary called "Pearl Harbor Declassified" offers a fresh look at the sequence of events that started at 7:52 a.m. on December 7, 1941. The main focus is the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona.

"They were able to go back and get the best copy of the footage of the Arizona exploding and replicate it in high-definition," National Parks Historian Daniel Martinez said.

A company called Creative Differences pieced together film with photographs from the National Archive and the Naval Historical Center into the 60-minute documentary that captures the first 15 minutes of the attack.

It includes rarely seen military footage from Japan and a home movie taken by U.S. Navy Dr. Eric Haakenson. Mixed in are underwater shots of the sunken vessel and first-hand accounts from attack survivors.

Martinez said the movie is the best documentation to date of the date that will live in infamy.

"I've worked with these images since 1991, and to see it in this clarity was remarkable," he said.

A free screening will be held Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center theaters.

"Pearl Harbor Declassified" debuts on the Military Channel on December 7, the 71st anniversary of the attack.