Perspective in Barefoot Gen
In the film Barefoot Gen by Kenji Nakazawa, the use of perspective helps illustrate visually the emotions that the characters feel and illuminate the effects of the tragedy. The strong visual images illustrate the effects of the atomic bomb but allowing the audience to witness through the lens of a child's perspective allows the viewer to take look at the situation. Overall the film has a strong dichotomy between strong family values and the military while also maintaining the child’s perspective in a lighthearted way.
The film powerfully uses mise-en-scene to create the perspective of the character and his situation. One example that stuck with me throughout the film was the idealistic nature of the character and the patriotic ideas that pervade. The juxtaposition between these two ideas creates contrast within the movie that illustrates the ideas prevalent in Japanese society after the war. With consideration of Japanese History, it is intresting to see the narrative of Japanese tragedy personified in artistic form. The events that the Japanese people perceived are reflected visually in what they have witnessed but also it is shown the conflict that they feel as well. In a scene where Gen’s mother is lamenting the tragedy that has happened to their people as the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki another family overhears and makes a comment to them. At this moment the mother is shown bigger in the frame and the other family is frail a smaller in the corner of the frame, hunched over carrying their injured. As the mother makes the statement at the time of the Japanese surrender the audience is also forced to question the Japanese military and the costs of war itself. The conflict in this scene illustrates a small glimpse of the ideas of victimhood that will become more prevalent in Japanese society after the dropping of the atomic bombs. Even within the movie, the Japanese citizens are conflicted on how to feel after such an event and these emotions are illustrated well as some people are angry with the Americans and others are sad that war itself even exists.
Continuing from the mother's outburst, overall she continually plays a very important role in the film. Not only does she lose her family she also lost her newborn baby and has to continue to survive and care for Gen and their adopted brother. The role of the mother in the film is very important to the narrative but also to Japanese culture moving forward after the atomic bomb. In Japanese film history and society, the treatment and portrayal of women had a strong emphasis on servitude. The importance of women’s servitude to the country/Emporer in Kokutai can also be reflected in history. The dissolution of the Japanese values helps women to break out of that role and it can be shown firsthand through the mother in the film. Immediately the mother is shown as an important figure in the family with her pregnancy and how the family treats that. After the dropping of the bomb, her role is forced to step out and push through. She must sacrifice her own body for others in the most selfless act. One moment of motherhood that stayed with me is when the mother has run out of her milk and the only thing she can do to keep her baby alive is to ask other women if they have any milk.
At this moment, the importance of motherhood is shown through another woman who comes to kill the child. In sadness and loss, the audience realizes that this woman has just lost her own and she was acting out of sadness. She begins to share her milk and laments her behavior. The bond between these two women is shown through their shared experience of motherhood and tragedy as well as the kindness that is shown to each other in the moments of pure desperation.
