“Minamata” (MA) *** and a half

THE title of writer/director Andrew Levitas’ film is also the name of the Japanese city where from 1932 to 1968, chemical company Chisso discharged effluent containing methyl mercury from its plant, contaminating Minamata Bay and accumulating in fish which the local population ate.

The film approaches the story through a decision by the editor of “Life”, the long-ago sadly-defunct weekly pictorial magazine, to engage noted war photographer W Eugene Smith (Johnny Depp) to go to Minamata and photograph what was happening among the population, particularly the children. Smith, with his Japanese-born wife Aileen (Japanese/French actress Minami) intended to spend not more than three months there.

The film runs for 115 minutes. Of necessity, it truncates what Smith found during the three and a half years he spent there. The cast includes a large contingent of Japanese actors. There’s enough information to explain how they might have behaved toward him. Smith and Aileen later co-authored a book which became the basis for the movie. The film plays a tad fast-and-loose about why they were there in 1971, but “Life” magazine was the medium that propelled the story to public attention.

Without doubt, Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Smith is an eye-popper, the sort of portrayal that collects nominations for awards. 

Which brings me to the actor playing editor Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy). He’s been around for a lot of years and won a lot of awards. I’d watch him reading a page of the Yellow Pages.

If you go to see “Minamata”, stay for the closing credits, which demonstrate that industrial pollution of the environment continues active and thriving around the globe.

At Dendy and Palace Electric