Only The Brave depicts the struggles of Japanese Americans fighting in WWII.Only The Brave is a 2005 movie made about the Japanese American 100th/442nd Battalion in World War II, the most decorated unit in US military history. The movie catches up with the troops in France as they are assigned to attempt to rescue the "Lost Battalion". The "Lost Battalion" is trapped by a heavy detachment of German forces which the 100th/442nd is sent after the failure of larger Batallions. Over 800 soldiers of the 100th/442nd died in the successful rescue of the "Lost Batallion". I've often thought this subject would make a great movie, now finally one was made.
But how I view Only The Brave depends on if I view it as a glass half full or half empty. On the positive side, this story finally gets told in dramatic fashion. The film does an excellent job of making you feel the pain they went through, both in battle and society at large. The racism, the isolation of a people following Pearl Harbor, the need for redemption against a crime they never committed is all there. Almost every Asian American actor from the past 20 years makes an appearance (almost the whole cast of Karate Kid part II, but I guess James Hong, Soon Tech Oh and Keye Luke were getting long in the tooth because they're not here.) There is a palpable sense of dedication from the cast and filmmakers in wanting to make this movie the best they could.
.
On the downside, the ambitious script attempts to link together family, spirituality and community among battle with a low budget. It is simply too big a story to tackle head on, particularly without a lot of Hollywood money to back it. Only The Brave exists in a midway point where there is just enough money to execute the ideas of the script but not enough to bring the vision fully across. The movie tries to focus on a smaller set of characters to make up the difference and nearly succeeds, but there is a derivativeness to the screenplay and workman-like approach to the direction more remiscent of a TV movie than a motion picture. Every time a character has a sunny, happy memory of their life in America you know a few minutes later that guy is toast. Elements of Saving Private Ryan and Glory come to mind when watching Only The Brave in the battle scenes and feeling of fighting in a war for pride and honor.
Still, despite the downside I'm glad to have seen this movie made because it is a story worth telling. I probably liked this movie more due to my ethnicity than the movie itself, which is why I feel a little guilty for not raving about it. It's not nice to slam a movie for not having enough of a budget, but in the end it's whay shows up on the screen that counts not the backstory. If you have an affinity for the story being told, I do recommend it because the film definitely has heart and does pay tribute to a worthy group of soldiers that have not been depicted onscreen before. Ultimately, the movie has one fatal flaw: No Ralph Macchio. How are you going to bring together Pat Morita, Tamilyn Tomita and the bad guy who plays a good guy here and not bring in Daniel-san? Couldn't he have had a cameo or something?
No comments:
Post a Comment