A beautifully crafted and heartbreaking film starring an excellent Johnny Depp, Minamata takes its based-on-true-events tale of corporate irresponsibility and creates a powerful story of the human spirit rising against a towering, oppressive force.

There are photographs that capture human suffering in such a potent, breathtaking way that the images transcend beyond its material form. “Tomoko and Mother in the Bath” is one of those photos. Taken by American photojournalist W. Eugene Smith in 1971, the photograph features a mother cradling her severely deformed daughter in a Japanese bathroom. The confronting contorted paraplegic state of Tomoko is the result of Minamata disease, a form of mercury poisoning brought on by decades of corporate environmental negligence upon the Japanese city of Minamata.

It is here in which W. Eugene Smith (Johnny Depp) - a much older, much more cynical, and much more inebriated version of his once celebrated self - finds a new sense of purpose as he tours Minamata, visiting those inflicted by the disease along with activists taking the fight to the polluting Chisso Corporation. Of course, Chisso are none too pleased with Smith’s presence, with Smith routinely tested with reprisals violent and psychological.

Depp delivers one of his best turns portraying a lonely man who lost his family, his passion for his art, and his will to live. When Smith is confronted with a stirring, important example of the fragility of life in the form of a people poisoned and left to suffer, he is forever changed, a development that Depp personifies with subtle yet poignant touches.

Depp also adds flourishes of comedy in his portrayal, such as a recurring gag where Smith routinely forgets to remove his shoes with entering a guest’s house. The Oscar nominated actor makes it all work, in turn delivering a fully realised and emotionally potent portrayal of a cynical artist who reinvests in humanity.

Director Andrew Levitas (Lullaby) has crafted a delicate yet passionate human-rights biopic, one where anger and grace balance the scale of a story incredibly powerful in its themes of redemption and injustice. The cinematography by Benoit Delhomme (The Theory of Everything) beautifully captures the films varied locales, while the score by Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Revenant) is a delicate composition of notes that stir the soul.

A moment in the film where Depp cradles a Minamata suffering young lady while singing Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young”, speaks to the delicate yet potent power Minamata has. A relevant and powerful film, featuring Depp at his finest.