Minamata
115 min
About this movie
New York, 1971. Following his celebrated days as on of the most revered photojournalists of World War II, W. Eugene Smith has become a reclusive, disconnected from society and his career. But a secret commission from Life Magazine editor Robert Hayes sends him to the Japanese coastal city of Minamata, which has been ravaged by mercury poisoning; the result of decades of gross industrial negligence by the country’s Chisso Corporation. Armed with only his camera, Smith’s images from the toxic village gives the disaster a heartbreaking human dimension, and his initial assignment turns into a life-changing experience.
