Author: Ayan Chowdhury

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, creating a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland in the northern part of the country in Tohoku. Recorded as a 9.0 on the Richter scale, it was the most powerful quake ever to hit the country (in comparison, Montreal’s earthquake last fall registered at 4.5 on the Richter scale). These natural disasters subsequently led to a nuclear emergency, as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station suffering partial meltdowns and releasing radioactive material directly into the atmosphere. Today, the official count of the dead and missing is above 24,000.

The cleverly-titled Radioactivists, directed by German filmmakers Julia Leser and Clarissa Seidel, follows the anti-nuclear demonstrations held in Koenji, Tokyo immediately following the tragedy. Organized mainly by a group of activists known as Shiroto No Ran (Amateur’s Revolt) and a group of political musicians from the Human Recovery Project, the protests featured people from all walks of life, gathering more than 15,000 people by the third demonstration. Combining music and visual arts, the atmosphere was festive rather than tense. These scenes were surprising to many Japanese citizens given the country’s lack of a protest culture. In fact, these were the first major demonstrations the nation had seen since the 1970s.

The anti-nuclear movement in Japan has taken great leaps since the first protests highlighted in Radioactivists. In fact, since 2011, the number of protests in Tokyo against the use of nuclear power have dramatically increased, culminating in 2012 with the country’s largest anti-nuclear event yet (gathering more than 75,000 people).

Japan’s history with nuclear power is a fascinating one. Despite the nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, the country’s reliance on the use of nuclear power reactors has grown steadily since the 1960s. Prior to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan generated 30 per cent of its electrical power from nuclear reactors. Thus, when Leser and Seidel turn their cameras towards the endless bright lights in the bustling streets of downtown Tokyo, they implicitly ask: how much longer is Japan capable of maintaining its electric consumption?

Featuring interviews with sociologists, writers, and activists, Radioactivists is thoroughly engaging and intellectually stimulating during its first half. However, the film strays from its narrative focus when the cameras simply follow the protests for long stretches of time. The film’s strengths are showcased most during its aforementioned interviews.

For example, political scientist Chigaya Kinoshita speaks of the initial shock felt by all after the earthquake and tsunami occurred. While the world hailed the Japanese for their so-called stoicism in the face of great adversity, Kinoshita argues that his countrymen simply didn’t know how to react to the situation. It’s safe to say they’re reacting now.

Radioactivists screens Monday Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in room H-110 – 1455 de Maisonneuve W. Director Karol Orzechowski will be in the audience. The film will be followed by Women of Fukushima. For more information, visit cinemapolitica.org/concordia

“It’s sad that I’m only 23 but animal death doesn’t do anything for me,” says one former research scientist early on in Karol Orzechowski’s Maximum Tolerated Dose. The title itself refers to lab experiments in which animals (or “research models”) are dosed with pharmaceutical products and certain chemicals in order to find a physical threshold. However, while many of these scientists have already proven the efficacy of the product, they repeatedly test high concentrations of certain medicines on lab animals until a fatality or a near fatality occurs.

There are in fact, several facilities specifically designed and created to breed animals such as rodents, macaque monkeys, and even beagles, all in order to supply experimental research. Thus, many of these animals, including monkeys and dogs, are brought into the world for the sole purpose of being used for scientific experiments.

The film does a convincing job in recreating the horrors of such aforementioned animal breeding facilities. For example, the Isoquiem-Interfauna Breeding Facility in Spain specifically breeds beagles, who remain packed in cages all throughout the day, as their cries for help can be overheard echoing in the background, cries which seem to be desperate and helpless.

In one particular experiment, beagles were used to research radioactive tracers, which were injected into them. Afterwards, the dogs were all put down, placed on the operating table, as their hearts were removed and dissected in order to inspect the effects of the tracers.

Dr. John Pippin, a former research cardiologist admits that, “if you subscribe to the notion that this kind of research is essential to advance human medicine, and your career and your life revolves around advancing human medicine, then you come to see it as a necessary evil.”

The sad irony in Dr. Pippin’s story is his own love of dogs. He admits that he would consider killing anyone who would dare hurt his dogs at home, and yet, he consistently went to work every day as a scientific researcher where killing beagles was part of his job.

Orzechowski, known more for his photography, manages to locate and interview a handful of former lab workers and authors on the subject of animal cruelty. The film is told in five separate chapters, as the director focuses on individual lab animals and individual former workers for each segment.

The pulsating, ominous music heard throughout the film has an almost frightening effect. If there is such a thing as a ‘non-fiction documentary horror,’ that which is unimaginable and revolting, then Maximum Tolerated Dosage is it. In addition, the heavy sense of guilt felt by nearly everyone interviewed in the film is accentuated by years of moral justifications on the part of these workers.

An anonymous worker simply puts it, “To the animals, I feel horrible. I could only say that I’m sorry and I will advocate to change this industry.”

It’s never too late to say you’re sorry.

Maximum Tolerated Dosage screens Monday Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in room H-110 – 1455 de Maisonneuve W. Director Karol Orzechowski will be in the audience. For more information, visit cinemapolitica.org/concordia