Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE TOXIC PIGS OF FUKUSHIMA [Big Sky Documentary Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]

Sometimes perspective is an interesting progress of perception. But it depends on the view being shown. For the short documentary feature: "The Toxic Pigs Of Fukushima", playing at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, it is an added aspect of tradition and connection to the land. When the tsunami that hit Japan in essence destroying the nuclear plant there, the entire aspect of that area changed. For the most part, we have not seen it captured this way (even 8 years later), either because of restrictions or other aspects. There is also the danger of the high radiation levels there which would make filming interesting. "Dark Tourist" which was on Netflix, looked at it from a different angle for one episode but this is much more personal. These subjects here are people that lost their families in the tsunami. One hunts the hogs. Another digs for the remains of his daughter beneath likely what used to be his home. It is like an apocalypse scene because the green is just starting to come back. The pigs/boars are a real menace in overtaking the town but they are also an inherent metaphor. They came down from the mountains and propagated...and overtook the town.

Some of the imagery, especially with the drone shots, show the pigs with their young moving through the fields from above. It is very primal in its intent but yet there is the hunter who hunts, not because he wants to kill but because they re tearing up the rice fields of local farmers and must be controlled. The film focuses on 3 people, but only one: the hunter seems to have a full narrative. Again like "The Crab Season" (playing Big Sky Doc FF as well), there was probably more to the story but at 35 minutes it is a tricky time length. The film tells the story and the cycle of lost repair but also loneliness. A drone shot over a cemetery, displaced in a way but still standing, is eerie as is the drone shots over the water where you can see the nuclear plant in the distance. The water swells but in the back of the mind, the viewer knows that that is contaminated too. It is a path that (with cesium permeating) will be likely fatally toxic over time for nearly 50 years. The people remaining behind are almost ghosts but know this is there place they need to be. It may sound dark but it is the human spirit...and the pigs and their survival, despite what happens shows, even in avoiding the hunter's traps, that life goes on, in some shape or form. A

By Tim Wassberg