Gojira, the film which captured millions of hearts both in Japan and in the West, almost never happened. Toho had intended to produce Eiko-no Kagi-ni, a film focusing upon the aftereffects of Japan’s wartime occupation of Indonesia, but was foiled when the Indonesian government denied visas for the film’s crew. The film’s producer Honda instead conceived of a film which would investigate the effects of the recent war on Japan. He chose Ishiro Honda, known for his work in the documentary and war genres, to direct it, giving him only the most minimal instructions to follow. Honda began filming in 1954, but the project soon fell to the wayside as Toho chose to focus on more profitable sci-fi action films. Honda managed to acquire the minimal funding to continue what had now become his pet project, and what would last for many more years.

The documentary focused upon the destruction and regrowth of Nagasaki, the second, and final, target of nuclear weapons. A running motif throughout the film is a storybook that Honda had adored as a child about an overly large hashirui names Gojira. The child, bullied by a monster named Gabara who steals his food, befriends Gojira, who, despite his monstrous appearance, is kind and wise. Eventually, Gojira is forced to sacrifice himself to stop Gabara when he and the boy are unable to get help from other adults. The two monsters disappear, leaving the reader to wonder whether they were simply in the boy’s imagination. The moral, which Honda often quoted from the story, is "monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy—that is their tragedy." Over the course of the film, both the Japanese empire and the atomic bomb which destroyed the city, the Fat Man, are compared to said monster. The author, who Honda left unnamed throughout the film, lived in Nagasaki, and Honda wished to find out whether he died in the blast. After several decades, Honda reports to the viewer that he did find his answer, but refuses to relinquish it. He argues that either outcome would shade the rest of the film and what was important was the many-year journey he took to find it.

Honda also takes time to focus on Nagasaki’s living population of hashirui. While they had weathered the effects of the bomb relatively well, all things considered, they were not without their own challenges. Following the bombing, algal blooms became common in nearby water, as the algae proved more radiation hardy than its predators. Algal blooms can leach water of its oxygen, destroying nearby sealife. Luckily for the hashirui, these blooms eventually disappeared. However, towards the film’s end, Honda notes how industrial pollutants are replicating these conditions and leading again to increased algal blooms.

Honda has come under fire for Gojira’s political stance in later years. The comparison of the benevolent, self-sacrificing Gojira with the Empire of Japan has angered some critics. The fact that the film descends from a failed attempt to pay respect to the victims of Japan is especially grating. However, whether or not Gojira was truly a monster, I believe that the boy of the story, and the people of Nagasaki, did not deserve what was done to them.

Note that Weller’s description of the algae does not ring true. His confusion is forgiven considering his position as a war reporter rather than a biologist. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find accurate information in English on algal blooms in Nagasaki by the time of this publication, so I must just leave you with this excerpt and a few words of caution.

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