Come See the Paradise
In this drama from director Alan Parker, on-the-lam Jack McGurn flees to Los Angeles and takes a job as a projectionist at a movie theater owned by a Japanese-American man. Jack falls for the owner's daughter, Lily, but they are forced to elope to Seattle when her father forbids the relationship. The couple marry and have a daughter, but when World War II breaks out, Jack is powerless to stop his new family's forced internment.
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- Cast:
- Dennis Quaid , Tamlyn Tomita , Sab Shimono , Shizuko Hoshi , Stan Egi , Caroline Junko King , Pruitt Taylor Vince
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Reviews
I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
One of my all time favorites.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
A problematic film to say the least. Of the only good aspects of the film is the accuracy with which it portrayed the experience of Japanese Americans in internment camps. It showed their confusion, loss of identity, and suffering in a very authentic way. However, it was completely ridiculous to create a film about such a shameful time in American history through the lens of a love story, especially one riddled with sexism and racial stereotypes. In my opinion, the middle of the movie is quite gripping, well-acted, and historically accurate. In all other areas, the film is unfortunately a flop. Topics of this significance should not be treated with such insensitivity.
While the main plot line focuses entirely too much on the love story between Jack and Lily, there are some parts of the film that make it worthwhile.There was some redeemable aspects of the film. The setting shown after the Japanese were put into the camps was particularly powerful. We were able to see the vandalism and racism targeted at them during the weeks before internment, as well as the ghost towns left behind when they were forced out.. Some of the stereotypical responses of people who are put in camps were displayed in this picture. The father, an older man with a great sense a purpose before internment, completely lost his way in the camp. In Santo Tomas, where Americans were interned in the Philippines, there were similar instances of important men crumbling under the camp setting. The mother, who was not allowed to become a citizen of the United States, was told she could not help make camouflage military nets, even though she just wanted to be doing something and was not working for pay like her daughters. Though boredom is not the worst thing a person interned could experience, it shows how restricted they were. She simply wanted something to do but was not allowed because she was Japanese. The son, Charlie, developed a deep connection to his ancestor's homeland of Japan though he had never even been there and spoke little Japanese. The targeting and persecution forced him to embrace and learn more about his heritage and ultimately return to Japan. And opposite him was the son, Harry, who joined the U.S Army and died in service. Harry, a rational man who tended to err on the side of caution, did what he thought was safest for him, though it turned out to be the cause of his death. The different outcomes of these characters shows the ways people can react to internment, even within the same family.
A very well acted and directed movie. Excellent details to the period with great cinematography. The story line is interesting with a very important subject matter. Most Americans nowadays have no idea that our government imprisoned these Japanese-Americans against their Constitutional rights. That alone is enough for the movie to be made and seen. We Americans tend to be forgetful of our past and neglect of history lessons from our own history. We have such track records of bias and discrimination against Asian immigrants such as the Chinese, the Japanese, the Vietnamese, the Cambodian, etc. Not to mention the two biggest stains on our social fabric: the African slaves and their descendants; and the Native Americans and their descendants. Remember, we build this nation from stolen land of the American-Indians and on the backs of the slaves. Along the way, we despised and badly treated every new group of immigrants come to this country with our discriminatory legislation and laws, overtly or covertly, with the government help or without. We need to know our history and learn from our mistakes to make a better nation... but then come Bush, Jr. ... and now... Donald Trump! We know we did not learn anything as a nation.
Well, I recently experienced "Come See the Paradise" with Dennis Quad. The movie tells the often overlooked and not widely known story of Japanese Americans before, during and after WWII. This film was incredible to say the least, the characters very well drawn up and telling a simple love story beautifully. The performances are memorable and one can feel the sense of conflict in these characters. At times I was actually nearly brought to tears, a rare thing for me (the only movies that have ever made me cry are "Godzilla vs. Destroyah", "I am Legend", "Pokémon 2000" ,I was like seven, "Rodan" and "Schindler's List"). The encampment of Japanese-Americans is often overshadowed by Pearl Harbor and the Holocaust, but this film shows it how it really happened. The struggle of loyalty, patriotism and freedom all are called out in this movie quite nicely, the director just telling it how it is, you know? The story is sad one that finally lives up to its title, although I couldn't really enjoy it the first time around with my history teacher treating us like five year olds! I only wish it had a scene of the Atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki or Hiroshima. It would of helped audiences understand the atrocity of using such a weapon on defenseless civilians.