THE PROPHECIES OF NOSTRADAMUS (NOSUTORADAMUSU NO DAIYOGEN) aka CATASTROPHE 1999 aka LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH
Starring Tetsuro Tamba
Directed By Toshio Masuda
This film was met by undeserved
negative publicity from The No Nukes Campaign and has gotten lost in
the shuffle; it’s a vital and important film that should have a
legit DVD release. It deserves more attention than the Western
version of religious hysteria seen in propaganda films like The Day
After and The Man Who Saw Tomorrow.
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| Hey, get this caterpillar off my lip! |
A schoolteacher bares the brunt of
Nostradamus' predictions of Japans fate in WW2 and is banished from
his school. He hears how everything will be
compromised after the arrival of the Black Ships in 19 century Edo
period of Japan.
The ominous score by Isa Tomita is very spooky and
utilized to great effect over Hitler stock footage and war atrocities
make the looming threat seem frighteningly realistic.
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| Hey, white people! Get off the road! |
I remember being obsessed with The
Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981), strictly a propaganda
documentary with Orson Welles in high school. This film is more ahead
of its time and though it carries the same prophetic warning, there
is less of 700 club fanatic religious connotation attached. The
poster art for the 1981 film even copies the Japanese one.
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| Did you even try to call in General Smokey the Bear? |
A biologist named Dr. Nishiyama
(Tamba) and his son and new wife, Mariko and Nobuo, discuss how the
air is more polluted then ever and animals all across the globe are
dying of starvation (in 1974 this is still a relevant threat even
today). Giant slugs make an appearance and are
battled by waves of flame throwers (don't they know to drop a hail
storm of salt and that would do the trick?) AF2, a food chemical agent is
discussed over dinner that ties into the prophecy. The young couple
and their unborn child, serves as a symbol of hope to battle the
tides of war into the future.
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| I hope you like Guano flavored sushi. |
At a U.N. seminar industrialization is
blamed for destroying the eco system and overpopulation, which is
something I agree with. Charles Lyell’s theory of Catastrophism is
inevitable and sadly, we can’t control it. Signs that the natural
order is breaking down continue with an old man wading into the sea,
trying to commit suicide because the death of thousands of fish zap
his will to live.
Even though this film is devastatingly
bleak, the young Nishiyama couple remain optimistic. Toward the
finale, there’s a spectacular interpretive dance among the sand
dunes that nearly brought a tear to my eye! This film makes Fukasaku's Virus
(1980) look like a laugh riot!
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| フリーバード (Free Bird) |
Next on the chopping block are
deformed babies infected by radiation just in case you weren’t
miserable enough. Down at the hospital, parents clawing
at him for empathy confront the doctor, but the physician is very
stoic, he already knows that all hope is lost.
According to Patrick Macias' book
Tokyo Scope, the scenes in New Guinea disturbed one uptight
member of The No Nukes Campaign when he saw it at a Kansai theater
enough to narc on the film to the censorship board.
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| Your Match.com profile doesn't do you justice. |
In New Guinea the language switches to
English. Nishiyama and a team of German scientists don HAZMAT suits
and discover giant bats and bloodthirsty cannibals! The cannibals are immediately shot
down; they carry hideous boils and sores on their faces. The jungle nightmare is a testament
that they disease could spread to Tokyo in a Cannibal Apocalypse scenario of man-eating-man turning into a plague. Although not all the effects are
negative as they show super speed children hopped up on Zinc tainted
water, fly around and perform hard Math calculations.
Nishiyama debates with Christian
businessmen, who believe a divine Biblical plan has taken effect.
When he mentions they should reign in societies over abuse of
resources, he is called a Nazi! Toward the end we see how this government
sanctioned notion of share the wealth makes drugged out hippies go
completely ape shit!
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| Retainers for peace against oppression. |
This film is very ahead of its time
and was unfairly banned by Japanese censors. Global starvation and
food shortage between third world countries is an endless problem
that is still relevant. It begins to snow in Egypt and erratic
weather patterns start bombarding the Earth. They illustrate the
global impact with submerged model cars and bridges (this is the
goofiest part of the movie, but it's so brief it doesn't diminish
anything).
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| Mime is running out, we're all doomed! |
The youth is met with animosity by the
onslaught of riot squads. Freeways turn into parking
lots as the cars leave to avoid the food ration laws; their road
rage causes a massive firestorm. The scenes with clownish hippies on a
ship searching for sustenance are so far out of whack that it was
hilarious!
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| Now we'll never make it to Emerald City. |
In 1999 global nuclear missiles turn
the planet into a garbage dump (all of this was seen in the Orson
Welles film as well, only there was a middle eastern dictator at the
reigns). People actually started to seek out that other film thinking
they had predicted 911!
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| I auditioned for the role of Aughra and lost. |
After the dust has settled, two
ape-like creatures emerge from the ruins and wrestle each other over
who gets to devour a snake; its totally hilarious, but it’s meant
to be scary. They smooth over that bit of silliness with a passionate
speech about the resilience of the human spirit, that I found very
inspirational. The film makes a strong case against
nuclear weapons, so why were the no nukes people upset? if anything
they should've used this to frighten the public.
Seek out this film at all costs because
it’s totally brilliant. Thanks to Cool Ass Cinema for sending me a
copy.
***
Crankenstein has written for his
site The Theater of Guts for a few years now and has turned his
obsession with rare gore films into a cathartic venture. My writing
is inspired by Chas Balun, Deep Red Magazine, Classic Mad, Gore
Gazette and Psychotronic Video.