Film: Godzilla
Release date: 13th February 2006
Certificate: PG
Running time: 96 mins
Director: Ishirô Honda
Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Fuyuki Murakami
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror/Drama/Thriller
Studio: BFI
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
In this modern age of spectacle and special effects it is easy to forget that science fiction is actually one of the most intelligent genres in all of fiction. Not only do its writers explore the possibilities of technology (sometimes positive, usually negative) but they also posit mankind and its future. But mainly, science fiction conventions like space travel and alien civilisations cunningly disguise the fact that the story’s subtext hits a little closer to home.
A mysterious flash of light near Odo Island destroys a fishing boat; two rescue ships are sent but they too are sunk. A village elder on the island blames their recent bad luck on an ancient myth; Gojira (the film retitled Godzilla for its UK release).
The attacks draw interest from the media, and after another attack, this time on land, it seems that Gojira is no myth. Palaeontologist, Dr. Kyohei Yamane suggests that the creature is not a mythical beast but a Jurassic-era dinosaur awoken by the recent A and H bomb tests by the military. Naturally, the military spokespeople deny this and try to kill the monster with firepower. This fails and they turn to Dr. Yamane for the answer - except he doesn’t want the creature dead, he wants to study it.
Meanwhile, Yamane’s daughter, Emiko, and her lover, Ogata, realise that they must convince Emiko’s fiancé, Serizawa, a scientist, to use his secret invention “the Oxygen destroyer” to defeat Gojira. The trouble being that Serizawa doesn’t want the military to know that he has created one of the deadliest weapons on the planet, lest they use it as such…
Everybody has heard of Godzilla. His city crushing, monster-pummelling oeuvre is renowned worldwide as Japan’s premiere schlocky movie export. But is the same number of people as familiar with Gojira? Spell check certainly isn’t.
Gojira was released in 1954, and was not only the eighth highest grossing film of its year but one of the most controversial. Less than ten years after the end of the Second World War, Japan was still recovering from widespread devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Also, in March of ’54, an American H Bomb was tested near the Micronesian Islands which resulted in a nearby fishing boat being covered in fallout, and at least one of the crew being killed.
The opening scene of Gojira purposely recreates (some would say exploits) this tragedy. Bearing this in mind, the scene, as well as many others throughout, are given a chilling verisimilitude that must have added extra horror back in the day. Also, keep in mind that even though the US aren’t mentioned by name as the source of the atomic tests, in the context of the time, audiences will undoubtedly have made the connection. This level of satire just two years after the US occupation (which included film censorship) ended is really quite a bold move.
Much of this is, of course, lost on a modern audience, especially a modern western audience. Mixed in with the glorious shonkiness of the monster effects, Gojira will probably never be taken entirely seriously again. What is surprising, however, is the level of debate that goes on among the leads. Dr. Yamane (Kurasawa regular Takashi Shimura, who shot Seven Samurai in the same year) believes that the monster is the greatest paleontological discovery ever made, and wants to capture and study it, while everybody else just wants to end the mass destruction. Elsewhere, Dr. Serizawa’s torment over whether he should allow his invention to be used as a weapon gives the film, arguably, its most memorable moments of humanity.
The late 1960s/1970s is generally regarded as the era in which cinema grew up, certainly in terms of characterisation and content. Previous to this, a lot of popular cinema would be more plot focussed (the plot driving the characters rather than the more natural vice versa). Gojira could easily be accused of this - some of the characterisation is quite lazy. An example is the reporter, Hagiwara (Sachio Sakai), who spends his few scenes coming across as a bit of a goofball before dying quite calmly, narrating his own death as he plummets in a collapsing building.
One subplot that does pique the interest is a particularly prominent, yet underwritten love triangle between Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi), Hideto Ogata (Akira Takarada) and an underused Dr. Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata). Serizawa and Emiko are engaged but she is in love with Ogata. She intends to tell her fiancé but decides not to when she realises that he could be their only hope in defeating Godzilla. Initially, Serizawa is depicted as a potential antagonist (he wears an eye patch after all), but over time he is discovered to be just as conscientious as Dr. Yamane himself. His fate is given an extra amount of pathos by his heartbreaking final words.
One of the most famous creations in all of cinema finally viewed in its original non-Americanised form. It’s a rare film that is as ridiculous as you remember, yet more poignant that it has any right to be. A true icon. SEAN
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