David Farnor | On 13, Aug 2021

Director: Andrew Levitas
Cast: Johnny Depp, Minami, Bill Nighy, Hiroyuki Sanada, Jun Kunimura
Certificate: 15

An American photojournalist from Life magazine goes to Japan and exposes a shocking case of mercury poisoning in Minimata, a film that that takes its title from the place where this really happened in 1971 and its worthy tone from its leading man. A white saviour narrative isn’t the easiest sell as the best of times, and a white saviour narrative starring Johnny Depp is even less appetising. But look past Depp’s attempts at redemption and there’s an engaging drama with its heart in the right place.

Based on Aileen Mioko Smith’s book of the same name, Minimata follows W Eugene Smith (Depp) as he is approached by her – then a young Japanese woman, played by Minami – under the pretence of filming a Fujicolor advert. Actually, she’s there to recruit his snapshot skills to raise awareness of the Chisso chemical factory’s dumping of heavy metals in the way around her village, causing horrific physical injuries to the residents.

Smith persuades his editor (Bill Nighy, sporting a rare American accent) to let him go and cover the scandal and his request is granted, partly because of the commercial prospects of exposing subsequent cover-up and partly to get Smith out of the way. At the tail end of a faded career, he’s a PTSD-suffering bohemian struggling with alcoholism, and Depp plays him with every familiar tic available, jaded, weary, wearing a hat and sporting a scraggly beard.

While there’s no doubt that Smith is the dominant figure on the screen, Andrew Levitas’ film is at its best when his lens points past Depp to presentsa thoughtful and beautifully composed portrait of a national tragedy – one that’s captured with a sense of wounded pride and moral outrage. The campaigners and citizens who drive Smith on when his own problems distract him from the ecological crisis are performed with earnest passion – a striking contrast to the frosty detachment of Jun Kunimura’s Nojima, the head of Chisso who will do anything to stop the situation going public. Minami, meanwhile, provides gentle support as Aileen, whose connection with Smith enables the film to pivot away from his perspective and focus on the timely environmental, and human, tale being told.

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