Minamata: An Ode to the Lives Lost

The morality that pollution is criminal only after legal conviction is the morality that causes pollution. - Minamata written by Aileen M. Smith & Eugene W. Smith

Directed by Andrew Levitas, this ecological drama is an eye-opener for those who were unaware of the tragedy and a salute to the people of Minamata. Johnny Depp looks completely unrecognizable as Eugene W. Smith, but the real heroes of the movie were indeed the people and Minamata, the city itself.

Quick Synopsis: In 1971, Eugene W. Smith a photojournalist travels to Minamata, a coastal city in the west of Japan that had been hard hit by mercury poisoning. Smith through his photography aims to expose the tragedy that the locals have been facing for years and bring global attention to the victims.

Before watching Minamata, like many others even I was unaware of this atrocity that took place many years back. After watching the movie, I had a mixed bag of emotions, I was emotional, I was enraged but also gleeful with the outcome of the movie.

Before I begin to talk about the movie, I must provide you all with a quick summary of what exactly happened in Minamata.

• Minamata is a small fishing town. Minamata bay is located on the west of Kyushu Island. it all began in the 1950s (roughly 1956), locals started witnessing their cats started going crazy and falling into the sea. Many coined this whole incident as "The cat dancing fever"

• Shortly after the locals started witnessing numbness in their limbs and seizures. In 1959, it was discovered that the source of this severe illness was high levels of mercury poisoning. Furthermore, people found out that the reason for this illness was, a petrochemical plant called Chisso Corporation was dumping (allegedly 27 tons of mercury compounds) heavy amounts of mercury in the Minamata Bay.

• The immense amount of dumping led to years and years of widespread, Pregnant women were giving birth to kids with deformities, many people succumbed to this illness and died. Chisso throughout the years refused to admit and take responsibility for the victims and denied compensating the victim's families despite the locals protesting.

Above was a quick summary of Minamata disease. Coming back to the movie, the movie opens with Eugene W. Smith (Jhonny Depp), who is known for his 'photographic essays' works at Life Magazine. Many people considered Smith to be 'A trouble' to work with, ill-tempered, a drunkard but also passionate about his work. Depp completely camouflages himself into his role and portrays all these traits with much ease. Smith goes through what one can call a 'redemption arc', his ultimate rise. Minami who plays the role of Aileen makes sure to create an impact and let her eyestalk. Despite this movie being her first English-language film, she does a great job at portraying her character as Aileen which not only swoons Smith but the audience as well.

Throughout the movie, I felt like it was happening in real-time, the emotions were at their peak. Levitas makes sure to deliver a very real and raw style of filming with Minamata. He made sure to not overdramatize the characters as one does in movies. Mitsuo Yamazaki (Hiroyuki Sanada) is one such character, who acts as a leader for the locals and becomes the voice of these victims. One of my favorite characters in the movie was, Kiyoshi (Ryô Kase). He along with his family was hard hit by the Minamata disease, but that didn't stop the man from exposing the gross negligence that had been happening for decades. With trembling hands (one of the symptoms of Minamata disease) he held his camera and captured each and every single moment.

There was a particular scene where Shigeru, a young kid was looking at the kids playing football, but he couldn't cause he suffered from Minamata disease where his legs and hands were deformed, Eugene sits down with him and in an inebriated state he offers his camera to him and teaches him how to click pictures, even though Aileen yells at him for giving his camera to someone else, you can't ignore the fact that at that moment, Eugene gave that boy a reason to smile and acknowledged the fact that just cause he has deformities, doesn't mean he can't live his life and have interests. That was one of the moments where you saw a tender side to the reel Eugene.

Eugene's work was a gateway for the locals of Minamata to get their story global and tell the world about how this was a matter of violation of human rights, where the locals were getting oppressed in a heated debacle with a big corporation. Minamata creates an emotional impact on the audience but barely gets into the details of the real-life events. The rest of the characters become hidden to give Depp the spotlight as 'the ultimate savior'. What strikes the most in Eugene's photography is the striking black and white images that speak for themselves, the plight of these victims, and their stories. It is moving to an extent that even Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy), the editor at Life Magazine was moved and acknowledged Eugene's reawakening. To this day, 'Tomoko and Mother in the Bath' is considered to be the most important image in photojournalism, it shows an intimate moment between the two females, where Tomoko lies in her mother's arms as if she's being cradled. Her deformed body and an emotional mother staring down at her daughter with all the love she has to give to her child, who now won't ever be able to take care of herself on their own.

The whole movie shows the upper crusts of what happened in Minamata, it could've been an independent movie on its own, as there was way too much context compared to what we were shown. It went unnoticeable due to Levitas's emphasis on Eugene Smith's accomplishments. It was named Minamata but it was Smith's story, his arc where he managed to turn from an aloof person to persuading the locals into getting themselves clicked in an intimate space. One can call that selfish as it was for work and it did go on to be one of his most renowned works. But a picture speaks a lot of words and so did his and garnered the attention Minamata required.

Minamata overall is a movie that you don't want to miss, with terrific performances by Johnny Depp, Bill Nighy, Minami, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ryô Kase, and Jun Kunimura. It'll make you shed a few tears if you're heavy on emotions like me or maybe even anger, how can the government of Japan fail their own people. It's astonishing how the movie didn't get the recognition that it deserved. Watch it for the people and their courage, it's worth the tears.

Below attached are a few links to articles that can help you learn more about the Minamata disease:

• Japan remembers Minamata

• The Minamata Disaster and the Disease That Followed

Also below is the link to where you can view Eugen W. Smith Minamata Japan project:

• Minamata • W. Eugene Smith • Magnum Photos

Let me know your thoughts on Minamata in the comments section! Have you watched the movie? Suggest me some movies that you want me to review for my next post! Thank you for sparing your time! you're appreciated and I support you! You got this!