Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen, 1983) by Mori Masaki

Post By: Taylor Hollister

   Mori Masaki’s film, Barefoot Gen (Hadashi no Gen) was originally a comic book series written by Kenji Nakazawa and released in 1974. As a result of its’ popularity, it was made into an animated film that premiered in 1983. Animated films are usually associated with fictional storylines and characters, however this film is able to more accurately depict the atrocities and aftermath of the atomic bomb without the real life depiction of a traditional film using live-action. As a result, this film creates a story for the audience that is more bearable and one that leaves just enough for the imagination to build upon without depicting the real-life horrors of what happened during the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. 

            Loosely based on Nakazawa’s personal experience as a survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan, Barefoot Gen tells the story of a small boy, Gen, and his family. The family lives in poverty, Gen’s father works making Japanese sandals while his mother is very pregnant and malnourished, being confined to bed rest. The story takes place during the final part of the Second World War when most families were tired and war-stricken. On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Gen and his mother survived the blast but Gen’s father and younger brother get trapped beneath a crumbled building and died right before their eyes. The traumatic experience caused Gen’s mother to go into labor. Gen delivered the baby and called her Tomoko.

            Gen and his mother struggled to survive in the aftermath of the atomic bomb. They witnessed the atrocious effects of the aftermath. The city was full of dead bodies and there were thousands of survivors suffering from severe burns and radiation poisoning. Gen’s hair fell out due to radiation poisoning and he thought he is going to die. He remembered the words of his dying father and he took charge of his family. He searched for food and built shelter for his mother and baby sister. They adopted a little orphaned boy who looked like his little brother who died and they united and worked to earn money to buy milk for their malnourished and dying baby sister. However, by the time they raised enough money, the baby was dead. On August 14, 1945 Emperor Hirohito made an announcement to the whole country that Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Americans. The film ends with Gen and his new brother finding some newly sprouted wheat.

            Masaki uses traditional cinematic techniques and animation to tell this most important story that could not have the same effect for the viewer if done using traditional live actors. Creating a film with traditional film and live actors, in some ways, limits the creativity of the director. In order to recreate this awesome event in history, Masaki decided to use anime in order to help the viewer really experience this horrible event. Anime helps the director show something beyond depiction and comprehension to an audience who has not experienced the event. With traditional actors and the technology of his time, Masaki would not have been able to recreate the effects of the atomic bomb. 

  For example, after the atomic bomb was dropped Masaki shows the effects of the initial heat wave and blast on the citizens of Hiroshima. Masaki goes a step further to show some of the suffering of the survivors after the initial blast. These images of a mother and a baby being incinerated from the heat and a family walking around as their skin melts off with shards of broken glass sticking out of their flesh, would be nearly impossible to accurately recreate using real actors, especially with the limited technology of the 1980s. Even if these events could be recreated using live actors, the images would be too gruesome for a broad audience. Animation is a great medium for being able to recreate an event, such as war, while maintaining a boundary, thus enabling audiences to watch the events without being truly horrified by the reality of them.

In addition to being a good medium, animation is able to create anonymity for the characters. Although this movie is an anti-war movie, it is not an anti-America movie. The film is able to purely show the horrific effects of war without blaming the American pilots, who dropped the bomb. Masaki was able to do this by using anime to create a separation between the pilots who dropped the atomic bomb and the viewer. The animated faces of the pilots in the plane have very little detail and are hard to identify as any one race or nationality. This makes the film purely about the atrocities of war and nuclear warheads rather than about the people who caused them to happen.

In addition to animation Masaki uses traditional cinematic techniques to portray this story. He uses long shots to show the expanse of the damage done by the atomic bomb. For example after the initial explosion, the city is in flames.

 Masaki puts the viewer in the shoes of a survivor looking at the burning city and we are able to see the effects of the bomb as the whole city is toppled and burning. Additionally, in order to put the viewer in the cockpit of the plane that dropped the bomb, Masaki uses an overhead shot. This shows how separated the pilots were from what was about to happen. This shot shows the anticipation of what is about to happen and how powerless the victims below were. Therefore, we can see how Masaki expertly used various traditional cinematic techniques, normally reserved for live-action, in order to create a film where the viewer is able to experience what actually happened.

In conclusion, in his film, Barefoot Gen, Masaki is able to create a film using cinematic techniques as well as animation to recreate scenes of the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II that are beyond depiction if using live-action.