It should come as no surprise that this is an anti-war film. Traditionally as a genre the anti-war film is one that has a tendency to preach. A point may be trying to be made, that can change the film from a story to a rather nauseatingly heavy handed rant at how disgusting the world is. I have seen it enough for me to expect it of every new anti-war film that comes out, whether it is animated or not. This is what makes Barefoot Gen so good, not only does it avoid falling into genre cliché it also tells the story with humanity. What we experience is a story about people who had it harder than we can possibly imagine. This was real, not some hyper real comic book excess. So poignant and beautifully told is the story, I genuinely forgot that I was watching an animated feature. The only other times that has happened was with Princess Mononoke, Akira and the occasional series; it’s a rarity.
Instead of focusing my gaze on one or the other of the two films, I am talking about them both instead. Whether left as sequel and prequel or they are merged into a singular entity they are both emotionally draining experiences. This is at its most powerful in one emotionally crippling scene, the likes of which I hadn’t seen before or since. The scene in question is when Gen goes back to his house after miraculously surviving the explosion. You might be expecting it, you might not, but it doesn’t change the fact that you will cry here. You will cry like a baby.
I won’t spoil that scene any further, but it is needless to say that it is one of the most heart wrenching things I have ever seen in film. Thanks to not shying away from the truth, Barefoot Gen can be used as a proud example to advertise the fact that cartoons aren’t just for kids. Animation can be powerful, beautiful and incredibly poignant. As an art form it can be relevant to the issues in society and present them in a very real way without the need to projecting such issues onto anthropomorphised animals. The animated form can avoid those pitfalls that Disney is so fond of.
The film might represent something that will mean something to all the fans of animation reading this, but there is still an actual film under all this. As much as it is a celebration of the form, it is also a film that couldn’t be done as well in any other cinematic form. This is true for one reason.
The first reason is that it’s too graphic. The animation may be very dated by today’s standards, still the skeletal figures, the melting skin have the power to shock. If somebody was brave enough to make this film in the current age without shying away from the punches I feel it wouldn’t escape without turning the story into an orchestra of gore. If this did happen it would be presented via computer graphics, so not only would it be depicting something gruesome it would also look false. This would make the viewer focus on the spectacle rather than the story which is where the films greatest strength lies. The story would be crushed under tonnes of atom, ash and death.
The film evokes such sadness merely by having the character’s cry, it may be common in anime, but its still effective. Naturally these are sad films. Some scenes will be scarred into your memory, what with the imagery and the emotional intensity. That is to be expected, but at the same time the strength of the human spirit plays a great part too. It would be all too easy for this film to spend all its time being miserable and upsetting (like its brother in arms, Grave of the Fireflies), but it doesn’t. Their city may have been turned to dust, they may have lost many of their loved ones and those who survived may be slowly getting picked off by starvation and ‘Pika’ but the protagonists are always laughing and smiling, not letting their circumstances beat them. It’s these scenes that balance the film and stop it from being unwatchable, the instrinsic optimism makes this a film to watch rather than an experience to be overwhelmed by.
In my opinion it is this balance between the harsh and the beautiful that put this down in the annals of history as one of the greatest anti-war films ever made. Barefoot Gen is a cinematic classic that everybody should see at least once in their lifetime.
