In today's America, the issue of race and ethnocentrism has always been a topic that has stirred feelings of fairness, justice, and virtue. Since the dawn of time, humans have always struggled with their inherent fear of things or peoples who are different then themselves. Whether it is fear of African-American slave revolts or Arab-American terrorist attacks, the United States has had its share of xenophobic moments, but none loom larger then the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans on the West Coast during World War II. It is this event that is the backbone of the award-winning 1999 movie Snow Falling of Cedars. Based on the award-winning novel of the same name by American author David Guterson (who wrote the book off and on for a period of 10 years while he was working as public school English teacher and based the novel in his native Puget Sound area of Washington state), the movie was directed by Australian director Scott Hicks (Shine, Hearts in Atlantis, and No Reservations) and intertwines the history of the Japanese internment with a murder mystery and a courtroom drama.
The movie stares Ethan Hawke (Dead Poets Society. Alive, and Training Day) as well as veteran actors James Rebhorn (Scent of a Woman, Independence Day, and Meet the Parents), Max von Sydow (The Exorcist and Never Say Never Again) and Sam Shepard (The Right Stuff).
The History
A photo of the offical orders ordering
all Japanese-Americans to prepare for
removal, cir. 1941
In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, fear grew that the surprise attack on the American Pacific fleet could not have been carried out by military forces alone. Rumors circulated of divided loyalties among naturalized Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans, who were now turning traitor and spying against their adoptive country. While prejudice against Asian-Americans was nothing new on the West Coast and dated back all the way to the mid-1800's, the US' entry into World War II intensified these long-standing feelings. In February of 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt bowed to popular pressure and signed Executive Order 9066, which allowed local military forces to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones," from which "any or all persons may be excluded." While the language of the Order does not specifically target Japanese-Americans, this power was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and much of Oregon, Washington and Arizona. Those Japanese-American families that fell inside these "zones" were rounded up and transported to secluded areas known as "internment camps" where military officials planned to keep these people (over 62% of which were native born American citizens) until the war was over. German American internment and Italian American internment camps also existed, sometimes sharing facilities with the Japanese Americans. In all, somewhere between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were subject to this mass exclusion program
In one of the most famous photos of
the internment period, the Mochida family
waits for their bus to the internment
camps, cir. 1944
While the facilities designed to hope these interred citizens met international laws of the time, they still left much to be desired. Many camps were built quickly by civilian contractors during the summer of 1942 based on designs for military barracks, making the buildings poorly equipped for cramped family living. Barded wire, communal toilets and bathrooms, military-style cots, and limited food rations completed the feel of a military camp. Armed guards were posted at the camps, which were all in remote and isolated areas far from major population centers. Despite the military presents, internees were typically allowed to stay with their families, and were treated well unless they violated the rules. Military documents do record instances of guards shooting internees who reportedly attempted to walk outside the fences without permission and it was the bad press from such incidents that forced camp commanders to loosen movement restrictions on the Japanese-American inside. Eventually, some families were authorized to return to their hometowns in under supervision of a sponsoring American family or agency whose loyalty what without question. Despite such attempts at civility, conditions in the camps remains poor with many internees suffering from disease, malnutrition, and psychological injury. Families that returned to their homes found them looted and their property sold off without their consent serving to compound the feelings of loss. Despite such feelings, 20,000 Japanese-American men opted to prove their patriotism and loyalty by serving in the US Armed Forces during World War II, most notably with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which served with distinction in the European theatre.
A 1944 photo of the Santa Anita
Assembly (Internment) Center in
California
By 1944, critics of the internment strategy took their grievances to the US Supreme Court. The Court, in two separate decisions, declared that the language put forth in Executive Order 9066 was unclear and ruled unanimously that loyal citizens of the United States, regardless of cultural descent, could not be detained without cause. By 1945, the camps began to closed with former internees receiving $25 and a train ticket to their former homes. While the majority returned to their former lives, some of the Japanese-Americans, sickened by their experience, left the United States altogether and emigrated to Japan. Despite this, many Japanese-American pushed for a redress of their issues by the Federal government. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided redress of $20,000 for each surviving detainee, totaling $1.2 billion dollars. In 1992, Reagan's successor, President George H.W. Bush, offered a formal apology to the families of the interred. Today many state and local officials offer remembrances on a annual basis to remember the lessons of the internment episode in American history for the next generation.
The Movie
Kazuo Miyamoto at his trial
(played by Korean actor Rick Yune )
Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the northern Puget Sound region of the Washington state coast in 1950, the plot of the film revolves around the murder case of fisherman Kazuo Miyamoto, a Japanese-American who served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, who is accused of killing Carl Heine Jr., another local fisherman. Mixed in with the anti-Japanese sentiment from the war and Miyamoto's fight for justice is a love story between Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke) and Miyamoto's wife, Hatsue. The two had shared a brief but passionate love affair prior to the war despite the racial tension between their families. When Pearl Harbor is bombed, Hatsue and her family are shipped off to an internment camp where she breaks off her relationship with Ishmael and marries Miyamoto. Back home, Ishmael tries to forget his bitter and broken heart by working for his father's newspaper and, eventually, going off to war himself, where he looses an arm during fighting in the Pacific. His bitterness still remains at the time of the trial and he allows his pain to cloud his judgement about Miyamoto's guilt or innocents.
Ishmael (Ethan Hawke) and Hatsue
(played by Japanese actress
Youki Kudoh) prior to the war
Another major theme of the film is the prejudice that still existests along the West Coast even though the war is over and Miyamoto is a decorated war veteran. The trial storyline and the prosecution's case centers on Ole Jurgensen, an elderly man who sold his strawberry field to Carl Jr. The land was originally owned by Carl Heine Sr. and his wife Etta who allowed the Miyamotos to live in a house on the property and picked strawberries for work. It is revealed that prior to the war, Miyamoto and Carl Jr. were close friends as children and that Carl's father eventually approached Carl Sr. about purchasing seven acres of the farm. Carl Sr. agreed to the purchase and payments for the land are made over a ten-year period before the war starts and the Miyamotos are relocated. In 1944, Carl Sr. dies and Etta, who had never really approved of the land sale in the first place, sells off the land to Ole, who eventually sells it back to Carl Jr.. When Miyamoto returned from the war, he is extremely bitter toward Etta for selling off his family's land and approaches Carl Jr. to try to buy the land back. During the trial, the land is presented as a family feud and the motivation behind Carl's murder.
Miyamoto's attorney Nels
Gudmundsson (played by Max von
Sydow)
Believing their is more to the story than a simple land feud, Ishmael searches local maritime records and discovers that on the night that Carl Heine died a freighter had passed through the channel where Carl had been fishing. Ishmael realises that Carl must have been thrown overboard by the force of the freighter's wake and finds evidence on Carl's boat to support his theory. Despite his bitterness towards Hatsue, Ishmael takes his new evidence to the judge who frees Miyamoto and dismissed the case. While the film is quiet accurate in its presentation of the events leading up to the internment of the Japanese-American, some of the best scenes in the film don't involve the Japanese-American actors at all. For me, the movie is stole by the acting of Max von Sydow who portrays Miyamoto's elderly defense attorney, Nels Gudmundsson. Besides his cleaver one-liners and spirited defense of his client, von Sydow's character steals the spotlight from Hawke and the other actors with his passionate closing argument, citing the historical implications of the trial even thought it is one small event in a small community. Overall, the film is very well done and worthwhile watch to see how bigger historical events impacted everyday people.
One of most interesting debates that I present to my students in my 12th Grade Government and Economics is the idea of censorship when studying the first Amendment and what words are protected and not protected within different forums such as public places and private institutions. Such rules and legal interpretations, set by our courts and legal scholars, are often new and confusing to students as they struggle to understand one of the basic ideals of our democratic society and when and where it can be property enjoyed. It was this interest that drew me to the next film in my journey of understanding history in the movies, the 2010 American experimental film Howl. Directed by Academy Award-winning documentary film team Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt) and Jeffrey Friedman (Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt), Howl tells the story of American poet Allen Gingsburg's early life and his inspirations for his seminal work Howl and Other Poems, which was published in 1956. The film also looks at the first presentation of Howl by Ginsburg at a poetry reading in San Fransisco in 1955 and the 1957 obscenity trial of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gingsburg's publisher, who was charged with breaking state obscenity laws by publishing and selling the poem which contained many references to illicit drugs and sexual practices, both heterosexual and homosexual.
The movie stares acclaimed actor James Franco (The Spider-Man trilogy, Pineapple Express, Milk, and 127 Hours) as Gingsburg and also features Jon Hamm (Mad Men and The Town), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds), and Jeff Daniels (Arachnophobia, Gettysburg, Pleasentville, and Dumb and Dumber).
The History
Allen Ginsburg in the fall of 1953
Gingsburg was born into a Jewish family in New Jersey in 1926. His father was a high school English teacher and published poet and his mother was a housewife, who suffered from a psychological illness that was never properly diagnosed. Her illness coupled with her active membership in the local chapter of the Communist Party became major influences behind Gingsburg's writings and his imagery in Howl. As a teenager, Gingsburg attended Eastside High School in Paterson, New Jersey where he was first introduced to the writings of the poet Walt Whitman by a teacher. In 1943, Ginsberg graduated from high school and briefly attended Montclair State College before entering Columbia University on a scholarship. It was during his freshman year at Columbia that Gingsburg met fellow writer and poet Lucien Carr, who would introduced him to the world of Beat poetry, a new expression of American youth literature that saw great potential outside of the tradition borders of post-World War II, McCarthy-era America. Ginsberg and Carr talked excitedly about a "New Vision" and their new ideas for American poetry. In 1954, Gingsburg left Columbia for San Francisco where he met Peter Orlovsky, with whom he fell in love and who remained his lifelong partner. Gingsburg had struggled throughout his life with issues of homosexuality, but it wasn't until he got to San Francisco and its brewing artistic scene that he embraced his true sexuality.
Gingsburg with Bob Dylan cir. 1975
While in San Francisco, Gingsburg met and works with many future artists of the San Francisco Renaissance, who would become important parts of the 1950's Beat generation and the later counter-culture of the 1960's. One such figure Wally Hedrick, a painter and co-founder of the popular Six Art Gallery, approached Ginsberg in mid-1955 and asked him to organize a poetry reading at the Six Gallery. At first, Ginsberg refused, but later changed his mind and agreed to help. This event would become one of the most important events in the Beat movement known as "The Six Gallery Reading". It was here, on the night of October 7, 1955 that Gingsburg unveiled his poem Howl. While the poem became an instant hit among followers of Beat poetry, Gingsburg revealed in later interviews that Howl was not only a biography of his experiences before 1955, but also a history of the Beat Generation itself with the core of the poem speaks to his own unresolved emotions about his mother and her death. The poem became a huge hit after its publication, but was criticized for its strong language regarding sex and drug use. In 1957, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gingsburg's publisher, was arrested by undercover police for printing and selling copies of Howl in violation of California's anti-obscenity laws. At his trial, nine literary experts testified on the poem's behalf. Supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Ferlinghetti won the case when California State Superior Court Judge Clayton Horn decided that the poem was of "redeeming social importance". Widely publicized across the country, the trial made Gingsburg a household name and brought fame to Ferlinghetti's defense attorney, Jake W. Ehrlich, who later was used as the inspiration for the fictional TV defense attorney Perry Mason.
Gingsburg in 1994
While he continued to write, Gingsburg and Orlovsky began to live an increasingly eccentric lifestyle. They left the US in 1957 living throughout India, Morocco, Paris, and London. He became good friends with many aspiring poet across the globe and acted almost as a bridge between the beat members of the 1950's and the hippies of the 1960's, including a close friendship with folk legend Bob Dylan. In the 1960's, he continued to give poetry readings which were generally standing room only for most of his career, no matter where in the world he appeared. His interest in Buddhism and Near-East religions influenced the Sixties counter-culture almost as much as his writings and prescribed LSD use did. Despite unsuccessful treatments from liver cancer in the 1980's, Gingsburg continued an active lifestyle to the very end. He died in 1997, surrounded by friends and family, widely considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th Century.
The Movie
Gingsburg (portrayed by Franco)
in 1957
Constructed in a nonlinear fashion, the film attempts to tell the story of Gingsburg's early life through his own words to a reporter conducting an interview, the "Six Gallery reading", and the trial of Gingsburg's publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Each story is denoted by a different cinematic viewing technique such as color or black and white and is intermixed with readings from Howl with animated sequences reminiscent of the Israeli movie Waltz with Bashir that were created by Eric Drooker, a former street artist who had collaborated with Ginsberg on his final book of poetry, Illuminated Poems. The scenes of Gingsburg's life (portrayed by Franco) at times touch on issues of his sexuality, his mental state, his relationship with his parents, and his feelings of hopelessness and desire to be loves. The scenes of the "Six Gallery reading" are presented with animating flare and shots of the drunk college students and Beat poets wishing to hear Gingsburg work. Franco himself does an amazing job of getting into Gingsburg character and was widely praised by critics for his portrayal of the great poet as the film's greatest accomplishment, while differing opinions exist on the rest of the film's work.
Ehrlich (Hamm) and McIntosh
(Strathairn) spare in the courtroom
While the animation is not really my cup of tea, the trial scenes between Ferlinghetti's defense attorney, Jake W. Ehrlich (played by Hamm), and the prosecuting attorney, Ralph McIntosh (played by Strathairn), are in my opinion the second best part of the movie. Though historically, bookstore clerk Shigeyoshi "Shig" Murao was the real defendant in the obscenity trial (he had sold a copy of Howl directly to an undercover police officer), his image is left out of the film. Regardless, Stranthairn and Hamm are perfectly suited for these scenes of philosophical debate due not just to their past period works, but their smooth styles of delivery that bring these characters to life. Another great scene for me was the courtroom sparing of Ehrlich with Professor David Kirk (played by Daniels), an English professor brought in by the prosecution. Aside from the fact that Jeff Daniels is one of my favorite actors of all time, he shines alongside Hamm as they spare over poetry, literary significance, and the historical impact of Gingsburg's work.
Overall, the movie is a different feel then past biopics I have seen, but is relatively historically accurate and does a great job of showing the pain and confusion Gingsburg and the other poets of the Beat Generation struggled with in post-World War II America. The idea of a poetic James Dean (another role Franco has played) comes to mind when viewing this movie. If you want to find out more on the root of the counter-culture of the 1960's and appreciate great acting, check out this film.
During his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, a reporter asked former California governor and presidential hopeful Ronald Regan what he'd liked to be remembered for if he was elected President of the United States. After a few moments of thought, the former actor responded: "what I'd really like to do is go down in history as the President who made Americans believe in themselves again." Such is the sentiment portrayed in the historical mini-series The Reagans, which was released with much controversial fanfare in 2003. Directed and produced by veteran TV movie director Robert Allan Ackerman (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone), the film chronicles the meeting and marriage of Ronald and Nancy Reagan and Ronald's eventual rise through the political ranks to the Presidency. Intermixed are issues of family, politics, and power, topics that evoked strong emotions from those who knew the President, those who worked for him, and those who continue to support his policies and legacy. The film was designed to air in two parts and was originally commissioned by CBS for a run during the fall 2003 "sweeps". However, due to continuing controversy over the script and the portray of the Reagan family, CBS dropped their support for the mini-series in post production and it eventually aired in November of 2003 on the cable channel Showtime. It was this controversy between the historical fact and the movie myth that drew me to The Reagans and convinced me to take a peek at what the mini-series had to offer.
The film stares well-known American actor James Brolin (The Amityville Horror and The West Wing) as the nation's 40th President and Ackerman alum Judy Davis ( Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, and A Passage to India) as Nancy Regan. While the film has its share of controversy, it was nominated for a number of industry awards most notable Best Actor at the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Brolin's portrayal of the late president.
The History
Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan in1964.
Ronald Reagen first met actress Nancy Davis in 1949 after she contacted him in his capacity as president of the Screen Actors Guild to help her with issues regarding her name appearing on a Communist blacklist in Hollywood. America was in the midst of a "Red Scare" and Hollywood was seen as a hotbed of pro-Communist support. Reagen agreed to help her, eventually finding out that her name had been confused for a different Nancy Davis, and a romance began to develop. Reagen had be married once prior to his relationship to Nancy in 1940 when he married his co-star Jane Wyman. Wyman is credited with turning Reagan from a Roosevelt Democrat to a Goldwater Republican and sparking Reagan's interest in politics. Following arguments about Reagan's political ambitions, Wyman filed for divorce in 1948 citing a distraction due to her husband's Screen Actors Guild union duties. Reagen remains the only US president ever to have been divorced. Ronald and Nancy eventually married in 1952 and their marriage produced two children, Patti and Ronald Jr.
In the 1950's, General Electric tapped Reagan to host the General Electric Theater, a weekly TV drama series, and it was through this partnership that Reagan's interest in conservative politics bloomed. In 1964, he took an active campaigning role in the presidential run of Arizona senator Barry Goldwater and in 1967, announced his bid for governor of California. After winning the governor's mansion, Reagen tested the waters for a 1968 presidential run, but opted in the end to stay in Sacramento. His conservative policies provoke protest on college campuses and in the state legislature, but Reagan rode out the storm, winning a second term for governor before opting not to run for a third term in 1974 to focus all his attention on a run for the White House. He narrowly lost the Republican nomination in 1976 to Gerald Ford before winning the nomination and the election outright in 1980, becoming the oldest man ever to occupy the Oval Office. He would run again and win a second term in 1984.
The Reagans during the Inaugural Parade
in Washington, D.C in 1981
Reagan's first term in office was a daunting one. Starting on a high note with the release of the American embassy hostages in Iran after 444 days in captivity, Reagan's administration soon had to deal with a sluggish economy and unhappiness at home. His controversial "Reaganomics" policies continue to a subject of debate today among historians. Reagan also suffered a close call when he became the target of an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Despite coming close to death, Reagen became the first US president to survive a direct attempt on his life and the shooting had great influence on Reagan's popularity and myth. Personally, Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a greater purpose. Following his return to office, Reagan began to amp up his rhetoric against the Soviet Union and escalated the "arms race" between the two Cold War-foes. Foreign policy became the focus of his administration after the revelations of the selling of American weapons to Iran in exchange for illicit aide to anti-Communist forces in Nicaragua in the so-called Iran-Contra scandal. Despite great achievements in helping to bring about the end of the Cold War, Iran-Contra was a serious stain on the President's legacy, resulting in fourteen indictments within Reagan's staff for criminal misconduct, and eleven convictions. Despite threats of impeachment, Reagan survived the scandal as there was no conclusive evidence that showed that he authorized the diversion of the money raised by the Iranian arms sales to the Contras. To this day, it is unclear exactly what Reagan knew and to what extent he was involved in the scandal.
In 1989, Reagan retired from public office and returned to a quieter life in California at his private ranch. In 1994, he admitted in a written statement that he was suffering for the early effects of Alzheimer's disease, an incurable neurological disorder which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death. Though he continued a quiet life until his death in 2004, Reagan is credited with a renaissance in American conservative thought and his image and example has been an inspiration to many Republican leaders who have followed him.
The Movie
Ronald (James Brolin) and Nancy
(Judy Davis) in the 2003 mini-series The Reagens
In the film, viewers are taken on an almost forty year journey through the life of the Reagens from his first meeting with Nancy in the 1940's until his leaving the White House in the 1980's. Throughout this many of major events of Reagen's life and Presidency are laid out including story lines about his relationship with his children and the behind the scenes support of his wife and of his health. Some of the more interesting scenes include his daughter Patti's drug abuse (from a very early age), his son Ron's ballet / acting career and alluded homosexuality, and his dealings with "forgetfulness" during the Iran-Contra affair (could it be the early onset of Alzheimer's?). Probably the most interesting aspect of the film is his relationship with Nancy and how the film portrays her as the real power behind the scenes of the Reagen White House, doing everything for cultivating the President's public image to running his Cabinet appointments.
Prior to its release in 2003, portions of the unrevised script were leaked about a month before the mini-series was set to air. Conservatives widely criticized the film as an unbalanced and inaccurate depiction of the Reagans and their life, calling it "leftist historical revisionism". CBS reportedly had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy with a political backdrop, but instead received what they later claimed was an overtly political film. One of the most intense moments of the original script, and often the only one referred to in media reports, was the depiction of Reagan telling his wife during a conversation about AIDS patients that "they that live in sin shall die in sin." While the writers of the film admit that there is no historical evidence that Reagen uttered those lines, there is historical evidence to support the idea that Reagen, a devoutly religious man, harbored similar sentiments towards homosexuals and the deadly virus. Another factor which has motivated critics to claim bias was that Reagan was played by James Brolin, whose wife Barbra Streisand was an outspoken liberal spokesperson. The film also received heavy criticism from the Reagen family, especially Patti Reagan, who claimed no one from the family was consulted for the film. Supporters of the film claimed that these criticisms were simply partisan bias, and were an attempt to censor a film because it did not always portray the former president in a positive light. Eventually, CBS withdrew the broadcast saying that it did "not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans," causing many to criticise the station for buckling to political pressure. The producers of the movie noted that, before the outcry, CBS had approved both the script for the miniseries and had received daily dispatches as filming had progressed. The film had even been approved by two sets of CBS lawyers prior to the criticism.
Regardless of the criticism, The Reagens offers an interesting (if not one-sided) take on the events surrounding one of our most recognizable presidents. While the idea of Nancy Reagan as the power broker of the Reagen White House seems a bit far fetched and not the most historically accurate, the images of the President's charisma as a speaker comes through load and clear, giving everyone a taste of what drew so many Americans to his man who would become known as "the Great Communicator". Reagen's inability to remember details and names is also an emotional foreshadowing to where his life and history will eventually end up. We will probably never know the full story of what really went on behind closed doors, but like the 2011 mini-series The Kennedys, Americans will never grow tired to stirring up controversy about our most iconic leaders.
A film that I recently watched which brings about an interesting blend of history and movie-storytelling is the 2010 American-Filipino drama Amigo. Written and directed by written and directed by American independent director and writer John Sayles (who has Hollywood writing credits for such Blockbuster films as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Apollo 13, and Jurassic Park IV and directing experience with the John Cusack / Charlie Sheen movie Eight Men Out), the movie is set in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War. This little known conflict, which lasted from 1899 through 1902, is incredible controversial due to the way that American soldiers conducted the war and the reasoning for why the United States was in Philippines in the first place. It is one of only a small handful of films directed by an American to address the war, the only other notable example being the 1939 film The Real Glory, staring Gary Cooper of High Noon and Sargent York fame.
This new addition to the movie-scape of the Philippine–American War stares established Hollywood actor Chris Cooper (who is a regular of Sayles' films) and movie newcomers Garret Dillahunt of Fox's Raising Hope sitcom and Filipino TV actor Joel Torre in the leading roles.
The History
Emilio Aguinaldo in the field cir. 1898
Following the conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States found itself on the world stage as a new imperial power with an overseas empire to boot. One of the areas that had been seized during the war with Spain had been the Philippine Islands, an archipelago of islands that had been a colony of the Spanish empire since the 1520's. Prior to the American war with Spain, the Filipino people had rose in revolt against their Spanish masters in 1896 behind the eventual leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo, a former local mayor. Within a year of the start of the revolution, fighting had reached a stalemate and Aguinaldo agreed to an armistice that included his exile from the Philippines to the island of Hong Kong. It was while Aguinaldo was in Hong Kong that he started to meet secretly with representatives of the American government, who agreed to recognize Filipino independence in exchange for Aguinaldo's help in keeping the Spanish occupied in the Philippines while the US Army helped in the liberation of Cuba. With American help, Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines and restarted local resistance. By 1898, Aguinaldo's resistance groups controlled much of the major islands and the US Navy's capture of the capital city of Manila signaled that the fight was all but over. However, events after that did not unfold the way the Filipino fighters had hoped. Under the new 1898 Treaty of Paris that ended the war, the Philippines now became the property of the United States and US government refused to recognize Aguinaldo's new government. President William McKinley issued a proclamation declaring the Philippines a US "protectorate" and dispatched American troops to the island to disarm and secure the Filipino rebels. By 1899, there was open skirmishing between American troops and Filipino rebels with casualties on both sides.
American troops in the Philippines, cir. 1899
The American military tactics for fighting the Filipino rebels were ones that would be copied again in future jungle conflicts like the Vietnam War. Their strategy included attempts to control key villages or areas with the segregation of the civilian population in "zones of protection" so they could not be provide food or active support to the rebels. The hope was that the rebels would get so desperate for food and supplies they would either surrender or be tracked down and forced into an open battle on the Americans' terms. While this strategy made sense on paper, it was far in advance of its times. American soldiers, hoping for a quick victory and a trip home, despised the slow pace of the war and often resorted to controversial measures to try and find the Filipino rebels. One such measure was the use of the "water cure", a form of torture refers to a method in which the victim is forced to drink large quantities of water through a funnel in a short time. The "water cure" was used against Filipino prisoners in a attempt to try and make their reveal information about the insurgency. Burning of villages, public executions of sympathizers, and the turning of the "zones of protection" into little more that early concentration camps caused some American to question the motives behind the war with prominent citizens like Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, and William Jennings Bryan speaking out against the war. Needless to say, historians have now concluded that atrocities were committed on both sides during the course of the conflict. The Filipinos resorted with a kind of hit-and-run guerrilla conflict that they had used effectively against the Spanish. This style of warfare would be seen again in future conflicts against American troops, as the Filipinos tried to stay one step ahead of the American military.
An example of the American "water cure"
torture cir. 1901
By 1900, President McKinley had had enough and ordered a series of Congressional committees to come up with recommendations on how to stop the fighting in the Philippines. Their recommendations formed the basis for a popularly elected government in the Philippines and the promise of full independence by the year 1934. American troops officially left the islands in 1902 with new President Theodore Roosevelt offering a full pardon to all Filipino fighters who agreed to lay down their arms. While World War II slowed the march towards statehood, the United States did grant the Philippines its full independence in 1946.
The Movie
Colonel Hardacre (Chris Cooper) as
seen in the film Amigo
In the film, viewers are introduced to Rafael Dacanay (Torre), who is the leader of the village of San Isidro in a rice-growing area of Luzon set in 1900, in the midst of the conflict. His brother Simón is the head of the local Filipino guerrillas band and has charged Rafael with the task of imprisoning the former Spanish captain and the village's Spanish friar, Padre Hidalgo, in the name of the new revolutionary government. But when the American troops under the command of Colonel Hardacre (Cooper) arrive, the Spanish officer and Padre Hidalgo are freed and a garrison under the command of Lieutenant Compton (Dillahunt) is left behind to protect the village from the insurgency. Throughout the film issues of language, custom, culture, and government policy collide as Compton, Rafael, and Padre Hidalgo all via for their vision of what the new Philippines should look like. Against this is the continued threat of attack from Simón's rebels and the ongoing struggle to make sense of a conflict that has not clear mission or clear victor. The main storyline is also enhanced by several side stories among the men of Compton's garrison such as acts of compassion for the Filipino villagers and a minimized love story between an American soldier and a Filipino girl. In the end, Rafael (who has tried to remain a peacemaker and "friend" or "amigo" to all sides in the conflict) will be forced to lead Hardacre and his men to the rebels' camp, where the Americans are ambushed. Furious at what he sees as a carefully laid trap, Hardacre orders Rafael to be hanged as a sympathizer. Sadly, Rafael's life might have been spared had his brother's freedom fighters (which includes Rafael's own son) had not cut the telegraph wires to the village and President Roosevelt's call for amnesty had been heard. Ironically, it is Rafael's son who does the cutting.
Rafael (Joel Torre) prior to his hanging
by the American troops
Overall, the film comes off as pretty historically accurate. There are references to the "zone of protection" policies as Compton and his men construct barbed wire lines around the village to keep the people in and the revolutionaries out. There is also references to the "water cure" treatment of Filipino prisoners as Rafael will be tortured in this way later in the film in an attempt by Hardacre to find the location of his brother's camp. However, Sayles tries to pack too much history into one movie and the film starts to get a little draggy by the end.
Overall, it is a worthwhile watch and an interesting protrayal of a period in American history that doesn't get a lot of notice.
In today's America, the issue of race and ethnocentrism has always been a topic that has stirred feelings of fairness, justice, and virtue. Since the dawn of time, humans have always struggled with their inherent fear of things or peoples who are different then themselves. Whether it is fear of African-American slave revolts or Arab-American terrorist attacks, the United States has had its share of xenophobic moments, but none loom larger then the internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans on the West Coast during World War II. It is this event that is the backbone of the award-winning 1999 movie Snow Falling of Cedars. Based on the award-winning novel of the same name by American author David Guterson (who wrote the book off and on for a period of 10 years while he was working as public school English teacher and based the novel in his native Puget Sound area of Washington state), the movie was directed by Australian director Scott Hicks (Shine, Hearts in Atlantis, and No Reservations) and intertwines the history of the Japanese internment with a murder mystery and a courtroom drama.
