Johnny Depp’s new film about Minamata mercury poisoning divides opinion in Japanese town

The film stars Depp as photojournalist Eugene Smith, who travelled to Japan in the 1970s to document the devastating effects on residents

The local government, however, has withheld its support for an advanced screening of the film, citing ‘strong emotions in the community’

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Hiroyuki Sanada (left) and Minami in a still from Minamata. Photo: American International Pictures

Published: 11:00am, 14 Aug 2021Updated: 8:14pm, 14 Aug 2021

For several decades, the residents of the Japanese town of Minamata were slowly poisoned in one of the worst documented cases of industrial pollution. A newly released film starring Johnny Depp, set during the city’s public health crisis, has divided opinion and provoked opposition from the town’s local government.

The film, titled Minamata , will be released in Japan next month. Depp portrays US photojournalist Eugene Smith, who travelled to Japan in the 1970s to document the lives of residents who suffered severe mental and physical handicaps after eating fish contaminated with mercury dumped into the town’s water supply. The illness became known as “Minamata disease”.

A citizens’ group in Minamata has organised a preview of the film on August 21 but the city government has refused to support it.

“I believe it is good and right that the film is being shown in an advance screening here in Minamata,” said Nobuo Kasai, an official of Soshisha, a support group for victims and their families.

“I am not sure what to expect, but I certainly want to see the film and I hope that it does help to tell the rest of the world what happened here. Minamata is trying to recover, to rebuild, but it takes time.”

Smith died in 1978 but his wife, Aileen Mioko-Smith, who co-wrote the book which became the source material for the film, criticised Minamata’s local government for not supporting the screening.