Christian Critic's Movie Parables - http://www.christiancritic.com
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS * * out of * * * * stars ========================
DIRECTED BY: Scott Hicks STARRING: Ethan Hawkes, Youki Kudoh, James Cromwell, Rick Yune, Sam Shepard, Max Von Sydow WRITTEN BY: Ron Bass, Scott Hicks RATED: PG-13 for disturbing images, sensuality, and brief strong language SCRIPTURE REFERENCES: 1 John 3:13, John 17:14, John 15:18-19
Befitting of its picturesque name, SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS sure is pretty to watch. But it doesn't take long to realize that the film moves with the same plodding pace as a man trying to trudge uphill along an unplowed street following a blizzard. Exquisitely beautiful but excruciatingly slow sums up Scott Hicks' (SHINE) latest endeavor.
The film takes a look at stateside Japanese-American relations during the time of the Second World War. Set in the scenic Pacific Northwest, SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS centers around a murder trial where American-born Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune in his film debut) is accused of murdering his boyhood friend, an American fisherman.
Covering the trial is Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke, GATTICA), a young newspaperman for the small community on San Piedro Island. As we see in a series of flashbacks, Ishmael has a number of conflicting emotions at work. Most importantly, the defendant's wife, Hatsue (Youki Kudoh, MYSTERY TRAIN) was Ishmael's secret childhood sweetheart in a severed relationship which was never reconciled. At least, not as far as Ishmael was concerned.
Secondly, there's the memory of his father (Sam Shepard, SAFE PASSAGE), also a newspaperman who had the conviction to take an unpopular stand against the injustice being carried out via the internment of Japanese-American citizens during the 1940's. This earned Ishmael's father the respect of the Japanese community and has given Ishmael some mighty big shoes to fill. The tension, what little there is, comes from our wondering whether Ishmael will even try.
Based upon the award winning novel by David Guterson, the screenplay (Ron Bass, ENTRAPMENT and Scott Hicks, SHINE) takes a non-lineal approach to telling its story, jumping from decade to decade, from prewar to postwar to finally, in the war. While this can often be an effective device, here it serves to distance us from the characters instead of drawing us into them. Instead of revealing more about the characters' lives, each flashback merely adds another layer onto them, like a fresh snow will add a pristine blanket to a rural landscape.
Mr. Hawke underplays his character and his conflicting emotions almost to the point that we will be excused for thinking that he didn't have any. Whether mooning or pining away for his "forbidden love" of Hatsue, most of his anguish is internalized and unexpressed.
Ms. Kudoh is just as enigmatic, leaving Hatsue's emotional life to be displayed by the actress who played the character as a young girl. In fact, we gain more insight into Ishmael and Hatsue from the fine work done by young Reeve Carney and Ann Suzuki who play the same characters as children than we do from their adult counterparts.
Max Von Sydow (WHAT DREAMS MAY COME) as Kazuo's defense attorney, provides support in what is a relatively minor role as does Sam Shepard as the principled newspaperman and father to Ishmael.
Taking a stand by publicly denouncing the government's mistreatment of the Japanese-American community who lived on San Piedro Island was not without a price. Ishmael's father was scorned, his paper lost subscribers, and his family was threatened with physical harm. That type of reaction is one which we conceivably may experience in our own lives whenever we choose to stand upon the truth of God's Word. God's Word prepares those who choose to follows Its teachings by letting us know what to expect from those with opposing views:
"Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." 1 John 3:13 [KJV]
"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 17:14 [KJV]
Taking a stand because it is the right thing to do is oftentimes hard because we know that it may make us unpopular for a time. What we should remember is that it also makes us well-pleasing in God's sight. And ultimately, it is for Him we live.
Michael Elliott January 2000 http://www.christiancritic.com
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