Product: Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)
Rating: 1.0
beautiful movie, flawed as history or mystery
This movie is stunningly beautiful, but unfortunately it lacks depth, historical accuracy, or suspense. The story has been covered in detail by other reviewers, and needn't be repeated here.The story takes place on an island on which nearly half of the population is Japanese-American (the author of the book lives on Bainbridge Island, WA). The effort is to make the viewer (especially the local high school kids who are compelled to watch it in class) think that it represents history.It is very loosely based upon Bainbridge Island history. The internments started there, and the local newspaper publisher advocated in favor of the Japanese-American community. There were also locals who advocated on the other side, although in recent years there has been a strenuous effort to erase their names and legacy from island history.It also helps to know that modern-day Bainbridge Island is the "Berkeley CA of the Pacific Northwest." Very left-wing; at the 2004 Fourth of July parade a disabled veteran from the Iraq War got "baby-killer" screamed at him, etc.The bigoted anti-Japanese prosecutor is portrayed in a comic fashion. His inane rantings are so exaggerated and perverse that a child can see through them. Which is probably the intent; since it is used as mandatory study material in the local public schools (in spite of the sexual content).It also slanders those individuals of Scandinavian descent (many who also live in this area); the Japanese-American protagonist was cheated by the Scandinavian-American mother of the killed person. Supposedly, this was the first time any Japanese-American was to have the opportunity to own land (something that is not borne out by contemporary land records), and this Norsky woman cheated him out of it.There was certainly injustice and bigotry; but it should also be remembered that most of the WWII-era anti-Japanese bigotry had dissipated by 1950 (the time of this story). The Korean war was in progress; Japan was the major staging area (not to mention R&R; spot) for US GIs in Korea; the flood of Japanese war brides was well underway; and more than anything else was the well-known heroism of Japanese-American GIs on the battlefields of Europe. Anti-Japanese bigotry had already become quite un-PC.The movie also fails as mystery. The case against the protagonist was based upon weak circumstantial evidence. Rather than do the necessary forensics to secure a conviction, much less formulate a reasonable motivation or plan, the prosecution made repeated expressions of racial bigotry. Left unanswered were several questions. If the protagonist hoped to acquire that land, how would murdering the legal owner accomplish that? If he did it in a rage, why would he wait 5 years after the end of the war to do it? And so on.Once again, a child could see through the flaws in the case.In the end, heroic White boy overcomes his past feelings of love for pretty Japanese-American girl and comes up with the evidence to prove her husband's innocence (the death turned out to be a tragic accident); thus giving her up forever but alleviating liberal White guilt. And this movie positively oozes liberal White guilt and liberal White self-importance.Which brings me to another point. The Japanese characters are all portrayed as passive and helpless. Without the good deed of Heroic White Boy, Japanese girl's husband would have gone to the gallows. All hail Heroic White Boy. The movie makes it painfully obvious that she really wishes that she had married Heroic White Boy and would have if her parents hadn't forbidden it. That scene at the end of the movie where she begs him to allow her to give him a hug is a new low.Sheesh. This movie is racist the way that only guilty White liberals can be racist. Everything centers around the White characters; the Japanese-American characters might as well be talking animals the way they are led around.If you have a "Perry Mason" view of how criminal prosecutions work, and a one-dimensional cartoon view of the issues of racial bigotry, then maybe this movie would appeal to you. If you like to look at beautiful Pacific Northwest scenery, then maybe this movie would appeal to you as well (but why not just visit visit?).If you hope for a serious understanding of the history of that time (or inter-racial relations of that time) from this movie, then either you will be deluded or greatly disappointed.I wish that I could recommend a better movie that covers the subject matter of race relations during that sad time in history. The closest that I can think of is "Hell to Eternity", which covers the real-life story of Guy Gabaldon and is quite a different story.