Damage to Minamata Disease To release a movie depicting a news photographer who told the world

The movie "MINAMATA", which depicts Eugene Smith, a news photographer who reported the damage of Minamata disease to the world, will be released from September 23rd.

Before the release, starring Johnny Depp said in an interview with NHK, "The more I learned about Minamata disease, the more I realized that it was an event to convey, and I felt that we were responsible for it. I think it is important that this issue is handed down. "

In the movie "MINAMATA", American news photographer Eugene Smith moved to Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture in the 1970s with his wife at the time, and protested against the suffering patients, supporting families, and the causative company Chisso. It is a story based on the true story of taking a picture of such a figure and telling it to the world.

In order to pursue reality, the movie production team interviewed patients with Minamata disease and their families, created 400-page materials that collected photographs of the time, and distributed them to the cast and staff for shooting. It means that I faced it.

Prior to the release, actor Johnny Depp, who played the role of Eugene Smith, responded to an interview with NHK.

Johnny Depp said, "I was shocked to learn about Minamata disease. The more I learned, the more I realized that this was an event to convey, and I felt that we were responsible for it. The movie triggered this problem. I think it is important that the story is handed down. "

"The problem is that people are thrown away and their lives are being neglected all over the world, and this injustice continues for generations. Start by watching a movie and then your own eyes. I want you to learn various problems with your ears. "

Also, in the movie's end roll, a number of pollutions that have been repeated all over the world are introduced, and regarding this production, director Andrew Levitas said, "Similar to Minamata disease is happening all over the world, and it is still I want you to realize that someone is suffering. I want to tell you that it's easy to look away if it doesn't matter, but that the victim "someone" might have been you or your loved one. " I did.

He added, "I wanted to give courage through the film that everyone has the right to live equally and that if we all work together, we have the power to change the situation."

The movie "MINAMATA" will be released at movie theaters nationwide from September 23rd.

What is news photographer Eugene Smith?

Eugene Smith, an American news photographer, published a photobook "MINAMATA" in 1975 with his wife, Eileen.

We conveyed the actual situation of the damage caused by Minamata disease, which is said to be the "origin of pollution", to the world.

Eugene Smith was born in Kansas, USA in 1918.

He started taking photographs at the age of 14 and accumulated achievements while publishing photographs in the American photo magazine "LIFE". In World War II, he became a military photographer and covered fierce battlefields such as Saipan and Okinawa.

Then, in 1971, he came to Japan for an interview with Minamata disease, triggered by the recommendation of an acquaintance.

After deciding on a theme, the shooting style is to stay in the field for a long period of time to shoot. In Minamata, I rented a house in the bag area where many patients lived for three years.

While discrimination against Minamata disease patients is deep-rooted, Eugene's attitude of treating everyone without discrimination is said to have been accepted by patients and their families.

In the interview between the patient and Chisso, the causative company, he was forcibly excluded from the employees and suffered a serious injury, and he could not focus the camera well, but he did not give up the interview.

According to Takeshi Ishikawa, a photographer in Tokyo who was an assistant, Eugene believed in the power of photography and said, "I can't fix my illness with photography, but by sending a message, someone can move." is.

The photo book "MINAMATA" published after returning to the United States has received a lot of attention from all over the world, and has also triggered the attention of the world on the Minamata disease problem.

Current status of Minamata disease

It has been 65 years since the official confirmation of Minamata disease in May, but the situation is still uncertain.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, as of the end of July, there were 1790 patients in Kumamoto prefecture, 493 patients in Kagoshima prefecture, and 716 patients in Niigata prefecture, for a total of 2999 patients.

On the other hand, about 50,000 people have been targeted for remedies because they are not recognized as Minamata disease by national standards.

A total of about 1,500 people in the three prefectures are waiting for the results of the examination in search of patient certification.

In addition, trials are continuing in various places, and about 1800 people are seeking damages from the government and the causative company Chisso.

Moreover, the full extent of the damage has not yet been clarified.

The Act on Special Measures for Victim Relief enacted 12 years ago stipulates that the national government should conduct a health survey of residents around Minamata Bay in order to investigate the spread of damage. The method is still not shown.

The Ministry of the Environment says that it will establish a test method being developed for health surveys in the fall of next year, but as the population ages, patient groups and others are repeatedly demanding that the survey be conducted as soon as possible. ..

Preliminary screening in Minamata City Appreciation of patients, etc.

The movie "MINAMATA" was pre-screened in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture on the 18th before it was released nationwide.

The screening was held by an executive committee made up of Minamata disease patients and supporters, and about 1,000 people, including the patients who were the subjects of Eugene at that time, watched the two-hour movie.

Mr. Isamu Nagai, a fetal patient who was damaged by mercury in his mother's womb and was also published in a photo book, said, "I remember going to Eugene's darkroom. I watched the movie to people all over the country. I want you to do it. "

A 13-year-old male junior high school student in Minamata said, "I didn't know about Eugene Smith. I thought I had to know more about Minamata disease."

After the screening, former wife Eileen, Mioko, and Smith, who both published a photobook, took the stage and said, "I knew that it was based on the real event that the patient continued the trial while suffering and won the compensation. I want it. "

High school in Tokyo that continues to learn Minamata disease

It has been 65 years since the official confirmation. As the victims are aging, the issue is how to convey the problem of Minamata disease to the next generation.

For a quarter of a century, high schools in Tokyo have been working to get students to learn about Minamata disease.

On September 1st, a screening of the movie "MINAMATA" was held at the Rural Chofu Gakuen High School in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, and was watched by about 400 students.

At this high school, students have been learning about Minamata disease in class for 25 years.

When I was in the first grade, I would like to take up Michiko Ishimure's novel "Bitter Sea Jodo" in a Japanese language class.

This novel depicts the suffering of people suffering from Minamata disease and their families. In the class held in September, the students read aloud in turn a passage that describes how a fisherman woman who likes the sea suffers from Minamata disease and her body is being eroded.

After that, we divided into groups and exchanged opinions on what kind of thoughts the novel had.

Students will visit Minamata City on a school trip when they are in their second year.

I haven't been to Corona for the last two years, but I've heard stories directly from patients, their families, and supporters.

It is said that there was also a meeting with Michiko Ishimure during her lifetime and Masazumi Harada, a doctor who was a leading researcher in Minamata disease research and continued to examine patients.

When the initiative began, few schools visited Minamata City on school excursions, which means that a total of 5,000 students have participated in the last quarter century.

Shigeo Kawaguchi, a teacher in charge of social studies who was one of the inventors of learning about Minamata disease, said, "By actually listening to the story, the students have confirmed that Minamata disease is not over yet." Is surely showing one side of "history", but I want the students to see the future by knowing the irreparable past facts and thinking for themselves. "

After watching the movie, the students were supposed to meet with Eugene Smith's ex-wife, Eileen Mioko Smith, who also interviewed the patients.

What do you learn from Irene? In late August, before the round-table conference, eight third-year students gathered at the school to discuss.

One of them, Maai Asai, plans an event with her classmates to talk online with the patient's family and doctors instead of the school trip that was canceled last year.

Through this initiative, he began to think deeply about the problem of Minamata disease.

Students who wrote down what they wanted to ask Eileen while looking at Eugene Smith's photo book.

Mr. Asai wrote, "Did you have any resistance to interviewing?"

Considering the impact he received from deepening his understanding of the damage caused by Minamata disease, he wanted to know why he was able to maintain the feeling of "taking a picture."

And a place to talk with Mr. Irene.

Mr. Asai, who acted as the moderator, asked the prepared question, "Did you have any emotional resistance to taking pictures of the patient?"

Irene replied: "It's not that I wasn't without resistance, but when I heard that many people were lying down due to pollution, I was urged to say,'I have to tell you this.' By taking good care of yourself and moving forward without worrying about the eyes around you, you should be able to open the way. ”

After the

round-table

conference, Mr. Asai said powerfully. "Maybe Eugene and Irene told me about Minamata disease, and I could have learned about the problem. I don't know if I can do something like them, but I faced the truth and faced the truth. I wanted to be such a person who could think of ways to avoid repeating mistakes. "