A devastating and true tale that is effectively and emotionally well-played.
Sometimes bombastic, other times underplayed, but the reality of what was discovered in Minamata is chilling, haunting, and not easily forgotten—and thank God for that.
I only wish a bit less creative license had been taken with both the timing and nature of W. Eugene Smith's and Aileen Mioko Smith's relationship, as it began much differently than depicted here and ended—if not outright more contentiously—then certainly 'less idyllically' than portrayed.
Anyhoo, those are merely nits easily forgotten and quickly forgiven when zooming wider to respect and honor all that was survived in Minamata by those who endured it.
Second only to remembering those who suffered (lest we repeat the sins of the past) is remembering that (when all was said and done and the dust had settled) neither Chisso Corporation nor Japan kept their word to fully recompense financially those who suffered at their negligent and knowing hand.
This failure to account (turning a blind eye, if you will) is not, you will note, ancient history, but as fresh as 2013 when [the recently-assassinated but then Prime Minister of Japan] Shinzo Abe suggested to 130 delegates from as many countries (gathered in Kumamoto to launch the Minamata Convention on Mercury) that though Japan had given rise to Minamata Disease... it had also recovered.
It has not recovered, no.
On the contrary, the UN Environmental Program warns that half of all global anthropogenic mercury emissions come from Asia (with East and Southeast Asia accounting for 40% of the total).
So here we/they go again, repeating the same old sins from the past, because "all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
