Barefoot Gen

Dir: Mori Masaki

1983

*****

Keiji Nakazawa’s Barefoot Gen is an adaptation of his popular Manga series that was based on his own experiences as a young boy living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb dropped. Seen through the eyes of his ten-year-old self, the story begins and remains rather childlike, which gives the film a unique but often uncomfortable edge. Gen and his younger brother Shinji get up to mischief while their father teaches them the noble art of farming. Their mother rests as she is heavily pregnant and their elder sister studies. Apart from the odd air raid, life is normal, considering the world is at war. Nakazawa remembers his father mentioning that it is somewhat odd that Hiroshima had been left fairly unscathed since fleets of American B-29 superfortress bombers had pretty much devastated every other major City in Japan, but then thinks nothing of it. It’s a sweet anime with wide-eyed characters and full of colour. The adults are animated with realism and the children and ultra-cartoonish. Standard stuff. Then the bomb drops and the film becomes the stuff of nightmares. Imagine Totoro suddenly biting little Mei’s head off or Ponyo being stuffed, grilled and served in a seafood restaurant - times it by a million and you’re still not going to be anywhere near the horror Barefoot Gen explores. Of course, I knew that the film would feature the bombing, but I was not expecting the ferociousness and honesty to be truly depicted as it was. We see cute little children, dogs and babies melt down to their bones and characters we’d only just met and fallen for, burned alive completely uncensored. I wonder how many young children have been scared by this film, not many I hope but I do think as many kids as possible should be subjected to it. Nakazawa and director Mori Masaki were right not to shy away from the horrific reality, people melted from the fallout, so that is what they should show. Studio Ghibli’s Grave of the Fireflies came to mind while watching but the big difference is that Grave of the Fireflies keeps its sombre tone throughout, while Barefoot Gen really follows the mind-set of a child, who would treat the situation as something of an adventure or challenge. Barefoot Gen sees our protagonist try the best he can to remain a child while also trying to support what is left of his family. There is no sweetener, horror is followed by horror but weirdly Gen remains a cartoonish anime character throughout. It’s very odd but strangely moving. With any film that isn’t in the viewers language or from their culture, there will be issues in translation but I found Barefoot Gen to be the most challenging. I have no idea whether the subtitles were correct, I would guess they weren’t but the animation itself cannot lie. I found the story bizarrely playful considering the story, so much so that I can’t help but think it is Nakazawa’s true depiction. It felt a little like the anime answer to Art Spiegelman’s Maus in some respects. It’s a masterpiece of sorts for sure but I’m afraid the constant screaming of the main character really distracted from the overall story. Gen was named by Nakazawa after the terms ‘genki’ (meaning vitality of spirit) and ‘genso’ (element), as he wanted him to represent the element of the human spirit. In this respect Nakazawa certainly achieved his goal as Gen, annoying as he can sometimes be, personifies a robust determination that the people of Japan had after the war. Every country after World War II has an expression that describes its people building their lives after the atrocities they had suffered. Whether they were on the winning side or the defeated, rebuilding and continuing was paramount, some had it easier than others did, but determination and strength was key. Barefoot Gen is that spirit that saved a nation, he is Nakazawa to a point but towards the end of the film he becomes a symbol of something much bigger and more profound. It’s a very simple film in many respects, indeed, sometimes the biggest and most important messages are told in the subtlest of ways, which is certainly the case here in the film’s conclusion. It’s a phenomenal piece, totally unique and something rather special.