Barefoot Gen takes a surreal turn when the nuke goes off. The film starts as a simple life story of a Japanese family, which is narrated from an intricate perspective from a child’s. While the parents are worrying about having an ideal nuclear family, the mother is pregnant and the father is helpless as they are living in fascist society. The kids are always either arguing or slavering, but things take a turn as the world gets enveloped in hellfire unleashing carnage. Flesh and bone are rendered into heaps of ash as the air is filled with blood. Some people manage to live which makes one question whether it was better for them to die. I begin to question why there is such a massive gap in the education system in America concerning the aftermath of the deployment of the lethal nuke.
Gen Nakaoka, along with his family, resides in Hiroshima. It has become evident that the dystopian world war is on the verge of coming to an end however Japan’s stance and surviving are disastrous to say the least. The supply depletion has made half the population turn malnourished and dead. He spends his summer holidays enjoying being with his Kid brother Shinji, but their parents were getting worried as Hiroshima had not been targeted for air strikes unlike the rest of the cities in the region. 6 August 1945 is not just another day as Gen and one of his friends witnessed the bomb going off while they were headed to school for the first time.
A single B-29 bomber looms overhead, dispensing its explosive cargo. Gen hauls on the ground as it collides. He sees the other half of his friend’s body go up in flames in a matter of seconds. Back at home, he sees everyone apart from his mother buried alive under the weight of the house. Gen and Mom are compelled to evacuate while hearing their loved ones excruciatingly choke in despair. The two stroll where Hiroshima city used to be and watch humans walk about, inching towards death with burnt and blistered skin and eyeballs dangling out of the sockets. Mostly lifeless, but still a little bit alive.
Barefoot Gen a story in the form of a manga is based on true events. The author, Keiji Nakazawa lived through the atomic bombing of his hometown, Hiroshima, when he was only seven. He had most of his family die under the debris of his home, while he, alongside his mother and baby sister, were able to survive. A few days later, however, his sister also died from either malnutrition, radiation or potentially a combination of both. It was after the death of his mother in 1969, that Nakazawa first shared his experiences of the bombing of Hiroshima. He worked on a few manga series as a teenager, before deciding to pen down his own childhood experience. While most of the authors aimed to discuss the horrendous effects of the bomb, Nakazawa focused on comprehending the rampancy of Japanese militarization alongside the domestic violence that had amalgamated with fascism, and gave it the autonomy that it had.
Barefoot Gen contains a lot of shifts in tone which catches the attention of some of the critics. I personally found it useful in showcasing the manic nature of this event. There is, and always will be, the attempt to reach for something delicate and endearing, even during the horror. This can create contrasts that can appear to be nightmarish in broad daylight. Someone who was a soldier and is now scarred attempts to walk amid the ruins. He collapses and starts vomiting blood while writhing in agony. During this moment, other characters struggle not to be overcome, so the segment seamlessly combines horror with a bit of comedy. This does not happen in the course of a regular human’s life and therefore expecting people to react in some ‘normal’ fashion seems unreasonable.
One of the most brutal moments of the animation comes during the drop of the bomb. It is at this moment when the blast of the bomb erases all the colors from an animation reminding the audience where the stunning remains of the animation stands, time also seems to get frozen. The perfect combination of colors morphs into colored lines and movement as a young girl stares into the obliterating bomb in front of her. Even her vision gets blurred due to the beam of light. The unfathomable horde of flames strikes her motionless form fracturing her skin, exposing muscle tissues underneath and then those burn away to reveal pure bone beneath everything. Within a fraction of a second, the human anatomy sees severe destruction. The concept that something so full of life can be utterly destroyed in an instant feels odd.
What most media channels in America portrays is a beautifully structured illusion crafted with one intent, that is to prevent the average citizen from uncovering true realities of the world and what surrounds them, which comes hand in hand with violence. We have been misguided to believe that the dropping of atomic bombs came with one goal and one goal only, and that was to put an end to the war in the pacific theater. What has been neglected and falsely painted is a scene where the Japanese army was already outnumbered and ready to negotiate a bill with the Soviet Union to bring an end to the battle.
The occupation of Japan by the US military under General MacArthur was also a strong effort at trying to cover up the injustice that had taken place, in attempt to soften the impact of the events. Today, nearly 80 years later, Okinawa the US military soldiers seem to be extremely popular for rape and murder crimes.
The next chapter of the American project required demonizing the communists. The Americans were supposed to be the protagonists of the tale and they contorted themselves into that. By smearing the narrative of what the bomb does to people, the events were turned into a tale of great triumph. The bombs were, after all, the American solution to “How to make the genocide faster and more efficient?”
Some parts of this film will remain in you for the rest of your life. You ought to be offended and horrified by this. Cinema is not just a tool for venting out one’s personal grievances. It exists as painting, sculpture, music, poetry and other mediums through which people communicate more complex thoughts. The text and visuals in this film are designed in such a way that they can either pacify or irritate the audience.
Barefoot Gen is a film that first offers a soothing effect and then snaps us back to reality. A child’s perspective of living in hell is what we are shown and for this reason the style appears to be in conflict with its subjects. So when you watch it, sit with that discomfort. That contrast is the goal.
How do we let those awful things get to the little children, the pregnant women, the elderly, families, the whole community?
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