After reading all the reviews for 'Rodan,' I sat back, somewhat amazed and perturbed that no one seemed to have gotten the obvious point of this film, a point which has not escaped this reviewer since the age of 14. No film, book, work of art, or essay is ever produced in a vacuum. This is true of all cultures, more so of cultures such as Japan, which place a very high premium on past history, and its effects on the present and future. If one can look past the 'cheesy special effects' and the bad dubbing, etc., it should become apparent to any viewer what "Rodan' is: essentially, a commentary on the not too distant past (in 1956), that is, the Second World War. The film's prologue and much of its dialogue make no bones regarding the writers' intent: to call attention to nuclear testing, nuclear war, and man's general destruction of the delicate balance of nature. If any doubts linger, please listen to the narrator's words as the two reptiles are dying in the end: can anyone NOT understand that these monsters perishing in flames represent the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
