Kazuo Hara’s sprawling six-hour documentary ‘Minamata Mandala’ exposes the decades-long legal battle for justice

Japanese filmmaker Kazuo Hara discusses the making of ‘Minamata Mandala’, filmed across 15 years, the film’s politics and how it aptly reflects the time we live in

An isolated elderly patient with the Minamata disease lying on a hospital bed with ventilator support, is the opening scene of Minamata Mandala (2020). A sprawling six-hour-long documentary by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Kazuo Hara, it is both a humane story and a deeply political film, that exposes the Japanese government’s incompetence in handling the disease and painstakingly captures the decades-long legal and medical battle of the residents of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan. The documentary opens in 2004 with a press conference by the Environment Minister apologising to those with Minamata disease for the Government’s negligence in controlling the spread of toxic chemicals that caused the neurological condition affecting several thousands. Fuelled by decades-long anger and a sense of hopelessness, the people of Minamata confront the minister, demanding a heartfelt apology multiple times during the course of the conference for the damage done. “I’m determined to never repeat this mistake again in the future. I’m truly sorry for what happened,” says the minister, which is met with howls and shrugs.