Berlinale 2015, Day 6 (Nuclear Nation II)

As you will be able to tell, days 5 and 6 were by far my best Berlinale days. One could say that the Berlinale started out OK, then became really great, then took a dip and finally ended with a few nice but not overwhelming days.

The greatest thing about watching “Nuclear Nation II” at the Berlinale was the Q&A, actually the best one we had this year. Funahashi has this very charming way of cleverly ignoring questions by basically answering a similar question or by responding to the question with one sentence but then subtly changing the subject and moving on to hold a speech on whatever he wants to say. The Q&A is just a decoy for Funahashi to voice his agenda, but I absolutely agree with his agenda, and I am in awe of his perfect English, his charming way of speaking and asking for help for the victims. He’s the perfect activist who carefully avoids any strong words (such as “activism”), accusations towards his audience (he only accuses the Japanese government) and exaggerated pathos. He is also adding a dose of humility to it even though you can easily tell that he is a very confident person: When asked about how he made such a beautiful movie, he essentially said “I listen to people and they inspire me”. (When that question was raised, I told Pixelmatsch that I think the right answer for these kinds of things should always be “Because I’m a genius”.) The Fukushima disaster is lucky to have a spokesperson like him, although of course he can only do so much as a filmmaker.

Nuclear Nation II (Futaba kara toku hanarete dainibu)
Japan 2014, Atsushi Funahashi, 114′

Pixelmatsch discovered Funahashi back in 2008 (or 2009?), and then proceeded to watch every single film by him showing at the Berlinale. Of course he also saw “Nuclear Nation” so the continuation was a must-watch. I had an alternative for this time slot, “Alice in den Städten”, but I figured I would never actually watch “Nuclear Nation” outside of the Berlinale. But this time, I was strangely curious about this director that Pixelmatsch has been raving about for years, so I decided to come along. Luckily, it’s a documentary so there is no plot per se, and I didn’t exactly miss anything by not watching the first part. “Nuclear Nation” is basically Fukushima from 2011 to 2012 right after the disaster, and “Nuclear Nation II” is the aftermath Fukushima from 2013 to 2014, mostly focusing on the refugees from Futaba who are living cramped up in an empty school and then on the remaining traces of the lives they have left behind.

I am totally not a fan of documentaries, that is for sure. There have been a number of mixed-form fiction-documentaries which I have enjoyed (like “My Winnipeg”), but I have always had my reservations about actual documentaries. They have never felt real to me (somehow doing fiction-documentaries just seems more honest to me), and I always thought you don’t really learn the truth from it. “Nuclear Nation II” may be a big exception for me: Its message is a political one, and it is one which I find very easy to agree with. When Funahashi said that the big problem with nuclear energy is that it allows people to not see other people’s suffering, I agree that he pretty much nails the problem of all of human condition to its core. The movie made my aircon-loving self feel quite guilty for sure!

Aside from the sympathetic message, I was in awe of how he filmed everything. There is no sentimental beauty or anything, but the cinematography and the cutting makes you feel close to the people, characters are being revisited in a coherent manner and soft music is fittingly inserted. While making a documentary, Funahashi tells stories and puts them together in a clever narrative structure. Needless to say I liked how he shoots the people and especially the places they have left behind. He tells those stories in an engaging manner but without rushing, while lingering on some shots just like the people linger on their previous lives, while getting his political points across in a clear but not blatant manner.

Speaking of the music, I was surprised that Ryuichi Sakamoto wrote a title song for the film, because the movie is such a low-budget, crowd-funded thing. But then I saw it was titled “for futaba” so I figured Sakamoto wrote the song for free to help. (And indeed, his Wikipedia indicates that he is part of an anti-nuclear-energy group.) This is probably the best music I have heard in an indie production ever since “Hoshi no Koe”, so kudos to everyone involved in that.

All in all, you can probably tell that I was pleasantly surprised at the sheer competence with which “Nuclear Nation” was made. For someone who only mildly cared for the Fukushima disaster back in the day, I am glad to see that there is someone capable who follows these people so closely and so persistently.