Title: Godzilla Minus One
Rating: 5 Stars
I have a confession to make. I've seen very few monster films. If you narrow that number down to Godzilla films, that number is dramatically low. As in, I'm talking about two or maybe three films over the last thirty years or so.
The relatively few monster films that I have seen have followed a pretty typical pattern. A threat emerges, runs rampant through a major city, the military seems helpless, some hero or some small group of heroes, usually outcast, have to rise up and, against impossible odds, find some way to beat the threat back. I'm not just talking about Godzilla films now. Everything from Men In Black to Independence Day to Pacific Rim fall under this rubric.
Maybe I've gotten cranky in my old age, but the most recent ones that I've seen are CGI run amok. The visuals of seeing a major city (I'm looking at you New York City) getting realistically destroyed is so seductive that the film makers scant on things like complete, realistic characters and any other plot lines beyond personal redemption and killing the monster.
However, I've heard from many sources that Godzilla Minus One was different, so I decided to check it out.
I have to say that I was sold. Maybe because I've just recently read a couple of histories on postwar Japan, but setting the film in the last days of World War II and in the immediate year or two following, made a big impact upon me as I watched it.
In the last days of World War II, a kamikaze pilot Shikishima lands on a remote island claiming engine problems. In fact, his plane has no problems. He just does not want to die in a fiery plane crash. That night, a monster (spoiler alert, it's Godzilla) attacks the island. The mechanics beg Shikishima to climb into his plane and shoot at it with the machine gun. Once in the plane, Shikishima is paralyzed by fear and watches as Godzilla kills all of the mechanics. Well, all but one. Tachibana survives, accuses Shikishima of cowardice, and blames him for all of the deaths.
Back on the mainland, Shikishima discovers that Tokyo is destroyed. His home is in ruins. His parents are dead. His neighbor Sumiko, whose parents and children are also dead, also blames Shikishima for the misery of defeat.
Shikishima meets up with a woman named Noriko who's trying to take care of an infant (not her own) named Akiko. This unlikely trio join forces to survive. On the surface, they appear to be a happy family, but Shikishima is too tormented by his guilt and his memories to have a real relationship with either. He refuses to let Akiko call him daddy.
Eventually, they begin to rebuild a life. Shikishima gets a dangerous job clearing naval mines. Noriko also gets a job. They move from their ruined shelter to a rebuilt small house.
That is, until Godzilla is tracked on a line heading towards Tokyo. The US occupation government refuses to get involved. The Japanese government is incompetent and has been demilitarized.
In this void, a ragtag group of former military gather as civilians to come up with a plan. It's a complex plan involving driving Godzilla deep down into an ocean trench. The ultimate backup plan is for Shikishima to fly a bomb laden plane into Godzilla's mouth. It's probably not giving too much away that, like Chekhov's gun, the fact that there is an ultimate backup plan means that it will play a part in the plot.
On the surface, considering the trope that I described above, it's a pretty conventional monster film. There's a troubled hero. There's the unstoppable monster wreaking havoc. The government is helpless. A motley collection of castoffs band together to fight off the monster. So, what's with the high rating?
The high rating starts and stops with setting the film in the immediate aftermath of World War II Japan. That brings in many interesting subtexts.
There's Shikishima, the failed kamikaze pilot. The kamikazes were the epitome of the Japanese militaristic death before dishonor ethos. So, from the first moments of the film, Shikishima is an outcast or, alternatively, the first appearance of a new post World War II Japanese ethos.
Both from the war as well as his experience with Godzilla, Shikishima experiences significant PTSD. He suffers from nightmares, refuses to have close relationships, and never shares his suffering with anyone. He is a broken, tormented man.
His friends, most of whom also served in the military, are similarly scarred by their war time experience. One in particular absolutely despises the government, accusing it of lying, incompetence, and uncaring whether the people live or die. It's important that, in this motley collection of men, that they place a high priority on everyone returning from the mission. They will not allow any suicide missions. That kind of thinking led to the destruction of their homeland during the war. This is the beginnings of a new Japan.
Shikishima comes back to a destroyed Tokyo. His neighborhood is absolutely in ruins by years of Allied bombing runs that has devastated the city, resulting in hundreds of thousands dead.
When Godzilla comes and lays waste to a part of the city, the ruins that it leaves in its wake are reminiscent of Shikishima's bombed out neighborhood. Godzilla, when it gets particularly riled up, launches a blast that resembles nothing more than an atomic blast. Given that the Japanese military is essentially helpless against it, that it indiscriminately lays waste, kills untold civilians, is a force moving inexorably towards mainland Japan, and that has essentially nuclear weapons in its arsenal, how can a Japanese civilian not make a connection between the United States military in the final days of World War II and Godzilla?
The connection becomes even clearer when the Allied occupied government is asked to intervene. After all, if anyone can fight off Godzilla, it would be the nuclear armed US military. To place even more responsibility upon the US military, it is clear that Godzilla has become even more superpowered as a result of being exposed to US nuclear tests. The US has, albeit unknowingly, created this atomic monster and yet refused to take any responsibility for eliminating it. Instead, for Cold War reasons, the US begs off, leaving the Japanese civilians to fend for themselves.
The end of the story is redemption. The monster is destroyed and the defeated, demoralized, former military men prove that they still are capable of acts of courage and defending their homeland. Men and women like these will now have the confidence to build Japan again, differently this time.
But here again the film is excellent. Even though it has this inspirational ending, all is not well. Is Godzilla really dead? Will Shikishima, Noriko, and Akiko be a healthy, happy family? In the final scenes, all appears not to be well. Such ambiguity made the film even more intriguing to me.
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