Product: Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)
Rating: 5.0
Being Hurt and Being Human
I read a review of this film a few years ago who's title was "Snow Falling Very Slowly on Cedars". It is somewhat appropriate, I guess, especially with today's instant gratification society coming to the forefront. With stellar action sequences in films like Star Wars and the like, films that build on characters and their lives tend to get less-than-gratifying reviews. Add to this that this film had quite a few historical references in it, and you've doomed it to be a "ploddingly slow film".But nothing could be further from the truth...The textures of this film are pretty darn impressive. There's a love story, a murder investigation, beautifully sculpted scenery (at sea and on land), war, concentration camps in America (disguised as "relocation camps"), prejudice, and a court battle, all rolled into this one simple film. And, quite amazingly, the film doesn't unravel. With all of these layers, the director (Scott Hicks, Shine), pulls off a stunning feat of visual candy and artistic sound.The story is based on David Guterson's best selling novel by the same name, and Mr. Guterson was directly responsible for the script writing of the film (which is probably why the movie held together so well). It takes place in the 1950's where Kazuo, a Japanese-American, is on trial for the murder of Carl Heine, a white Norwegian fisherman. Coming off the heals of WW II, the trial is ready to ignite into a free-for-all of racial tensions. Americans still scorn all the Japanese for the destruction of Pearl Harbor (doesn't matter if you were a U.S. citizen at the time or not), and the Japanese-Americans remain bitter for being forced into "relocation/internment camps" in California and beyond (many Japanese-Americans lost everything they had during these "relocations"). But tempering the heat of the trial is a terrible blizzard raging around this small island in the San Juans (Washington State) where the story unfolds.The film brushes us back and forth between the trial of Kazuo, WWII (during which Kazuo was a soldier fighting for the U.S.), a love story between an American boy, Ishmael (Ethan Hawke) and a VERY pretty Japanese girl named, Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), who will eventually forsake their young love and marry the very man who is on trial for murder, Kazuo.Ishmael loses his right arm in the war and comes back doubly embittered at life. Not only did Hatsue leave him for one of her own, but a Japanese battle caused the loss of his limb. Now he's on the little island and covering the trial as a newspaper reporter, and his memories of the past intrude on the trials machinations. When he discovers some information that could clear Kazuo of the crime, can he let that information come out? Or will his battle-worn heart, soul, and body prevent it? Or perhaps his aching love of Hatsue will stop him (hoping that Kazuo is found guilty and sent away, thus allowing him to have a second chance at Hatsue)?As you can see just from this simple review, the layers go deep, cutting, biting, and tearing into the flesh of the characters, all of whom are flawed, broken, and, quite possibly, reborn again as a full human being.Notable amongst the cast is Ethan Hawke as Ishmael, Yoki Kudo as Hatsue, Max von Sydow as Nels (the curmudgeonly but affable defense attorney), James Cromwell as the sympathetic Judge Fielding, and Sam Shepard as Arthur Chambers (Ishmael's father and mentor).A must see film for those interesting in characters, their flaws, their successes, and just being true to the human spirit.