THE 100 BEST WAR MOVIES - #87. Barefoot Gen (1983)

 

                “Barefoot Gen” is a Japanese war anime.  It is loosely based on the manga series of the same name by Keiji Nakazawa.  He wrote the screenplay.  As a young boy, Nakazawa survived Hiroshima and he based the series on his experiences.  The movie was part of the wave of nuclear war movies that came out in the 1980s.  This subgenre includes “The Day After”, “Threads”, and “When the Wind Blows”.  It is a subgenre that you can watch if you want to get very depressed.  “Barefoot Gen” was directed by Mori Masaki.

                The movie begins a few days before the bombing of Hiroshima.  A narrator informs us that B-29s have been bombing Japanese cities with fire bombs.  These have been “the most devastating attacks against civilians ever.”  Yet, Hiroshima has not felt the destruction.  Is it just charmed?  Gen’s father, who is not a supporter of the war effort, has a feeling that the city is being spared for something worse.  He calls the leaders “mad men” for continuing the war and tells his kids “sometimes it takes a lot more courage not to fight.”  But this is balanced with other Japanese who are still patriotic.  Gen’s family is suffering like most of the Japanese common people.  They lack food, but they are happy because they have each other.  Gen and his brother Shinji are typical preteens.  They help their father in the wheatfield and scrounge around for food.  Food is the driving force in their lives because their mother is pregnant and malnourished.  At one point, they attempt to steal some carp from an old man’s pond.  Although they sometimes get into trouble and quarrel, the duo is very appealing.  So much so that the audience gets a vibe that what is coming is going to be very hard to watch.  Get the tissues ready.

ACTING:                      B

ACTION:                      N/A

ACCURACY:                  A

PLOT:                           A

REALISM:                    A

CINEMATOGRAPHY:   old school anime

SCORE:  some Japanese songs                      

BEST SCENE:  the bomb

BEST QUOTE:  Gen:  “Maybe this is what hell is like.”

                 If you are only familiar with the history textbook facts of the atomic bombing, be prepared to see what it was like for a typical Japanese family.  The explosion is awesomely rendered and what happens to the family is as harsh as you will encounter in a war movie.  In fact, we have entered horror movie territory at this point.  Although told from the perspective of Gen, the movies chronicles most of the gruesome aspects of an atomic explosion.   The movie depicts the “black rain”, the walking dead, the symptoms of radiation sickness (Gen loses his hair).  I learned that after drinking water that they begged for, the victims would die because the desire for water was the only thing keeping them alive.  It’s that kind of informative movie.  Plus we have the narrator to fill us in on the big picture.  This movie is one that people should see if they have seen “Oppenheimer”.  In fact, the narrator mentions Oppenheimer by name.

                “Barefoot Gen” is a roller coaster ride.  And like a roller coaster ride, you might want to have a barf bag handy. The movie is hard to watch at times.  There are some gut punches. It is definitely not a kids’ movie.  It sets you up by making Gen a very likeable character.  You bond with him and suffer with him.  His relationship with his family and, especially with his brother Shinji, reminds you that the Japanese may have been the “bad guys” in the war, but the Japanese common people were much like the people of the countries they fought.  Knowing what is coming makes what the family experiences more visceral.  You can’t help but think of your own family now that we live in a world with ICBMs.

                The anime is wonderful.  If you are not familiar with the style, you owe it to yourself to catch this movie.  The movie is vibrantly colorful and then switches to a more drab look after the explosion.  Animation allows for a surreal horror that a regular movie could not depict.  That includes a scene involving his family that is one of the most heart-breaking in war movie history.  Just because it’s a “cartoon” does not mean it cannot pack an emotional wallop.  With that said, it could have been even more bleak.  You are not jelly by the end.  This conforms to the theme propounded by Gen’s father.  He urged his children to be like the wheat.  You might get knocked down, but you can get back up.  To follow this theme, the movie has too much of a happy ending, but considering what it puts us through, we deserve it.

                “Barefoot Gen” is a must-see to understand the human dimension of what happened to Hiroshima.  It may cause you to rethink your position on whether the bombing of Hiroshima was justified.  I considered the more acclaimed “Grave of the Fireflies”, but I find this movie is more historical and does not have long stretches where little happens like in Fireflies.