Near
Puget Sound there are several islands with fishing villages
and cedar forests. To several of these islands many Japanese
fishermen were recruited in the nineteenth century, but by
law they could not own property in Washington. In the summer,
when fish were not in season, many Japanese were hired to
work strawberry fields. In Snow Falling on Cedars,
based on the novel of the same title by David Guterson, we
visit one such island (actually Greenwood, British Columbia),
where Ishmael Chambers (played by Ethan Hawke) grows up and
falls in love with Hatsue (played by Youki Kidoh). Meanwhile,
the family of Zenhichi Miyamoto (played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
) arranged to buy on behalf of their son Kazuo the portion
of strawberry fields that they worked from the family of Carl
Heine, Sr. (played by Daniel von Bargen) through monthly payments.
When Pearl Harbor is attacked, Ishmael's journalist father
Arthur (played by Sam Shepard) editorializes against anti-Japanese
hysteria, but events move quickly, and his sweetheart and
the rest of the Japanese are sent to Manzanar. Before departing
for the concentration camps, as they are called in the film,
father Miyamoto tries to make the final two payments for the
fields, but Mr. Heine dies during the war, and Mrs. Etta Heine
(played by Celia Weston) sells the land to the Jurgensen family.
While at Manzanar, Hatsue's mother forces her to renounce
her love for Ishmael, who never marries, and weds Kazuo Miyamoto
(played by Rick Yune), who joins the 442nd Regiment and aids
in saving the Lost Battalion in Europe. Soon after Kazuo returns
as a decorated soldier, he returns to the life of a fisherman
and asks Ole Jurgensen (played by Jan Rubes) to buy the land.
Both Kazuo and Ole go out to sea that night but run into fog.
When Ole turns up dead, circumstantial evidence incriminates
Kazuo, who is put on trial, which has the appearance of an
opportunity for the townspeople on the jury to make Kazuo
the scapegoat for the war on the pretext that he was settling
a score with those who robbed his family of property that
they deserved. At the center of the film is the trial, featuring
an unbiased judge (played by James Crowmell), a forceful prosecutor
(played by James Rebhorn), and a meticulous but aging defense
attorney (played by Max von Sydow), with a town still divided
between Japanese and Caucasians suspicious of each other.
Meanwhile, Ishmael hunts up exculpatory evidence from lighthouse
records. He then must choose between withholding the evidence
with the prospect of reuniting with Hatsue or disclosing the
evidence so that Kazuo will go free. Although the tagline
of the film is "First loves last. Forever." it is obvious
from the search for evidence that the choice will be to do
the right thing. With magnificent scenes of snow and music
to match the story of unrequited love, Scott Hicks has clearly
directed a film that well deserves the applause that audiences
in Westwood provide in the end. MH
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