1950’s. A fisherman’s body is found in his fishing nets which leads to accusing a Japanese man, Kazuo Matsumoto, of murdering him. The ensuing court case is covered by the journalist Ishmael Chambers, for whom the story is much more personal, because Kazuo’s wife Hatsue was once his lover…
Scott Hicks’ movie is based on Daniel Guterson’s novel. The court case features prejudice and leads to reflection about the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, a part of history the US is not really proud of. After the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Americans quickly started to arrest immigrants, most of them Japanese. 2 months later, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the infamous Executive Order 9066, which allowed internment of the Japanese Americans in so-called “relocation camps”, where they were held until the camp’s closure in 1945. This part of history is not something I find very often referred to in American cinema, a very interesting early example was the movie Midway, where Charlton Heston tries to free his son’s girlfriend from a camp in Hawaii. The movie features great talent, including actors Ethan Hawke, Sam Shepard, James Cromwell and Max von Sydow, cinematographer Robert Richardson (who was Oscar nominated) and composer James Newton Howard.
The story and setting are handled very poetically. Hicks doesn’t just tell it in a straightforward fashion. He prefers to use intertwining flashbacks, sometimes on multiple levels. That way a simple story (a murder court case) shows it different facets and we learn of its complexity gradually. While telling a court case through a series of flashbacks is not only not insanely original, but also perfectly understandable (visualizing and dramatizing the testimony is of course much more interesting than just hearing it), the makers add a bit of depth and scope to this device. They emphasize the background of the events a bit more than usually. Not all the flashbacks are connected to the case itself though. They are used to add social and historical background (especially the very painful “evacuation” of Japanese Americans to the California-based internment camp in Manzanar) and also psychological (particularly note-worthy is the handling of the relationship between Hatsue and Ishmael). The war itself is also a prominent feature, but rather than concentrating on the simple fighting (both Kazuo and Ishmael are veterans), Hicks concentrates on the psychological influence of it, especially the impact it made on Ishmael.
Having gathered so much talent, the movie couldn’t really have bad acting (though of course, there are people that could waste every single actor we have there). Particularly noteworthy performances are Max von Sydow’s as Kazuo’s lawyer, Ethan Hawke’s as Ishmael and Youki Kudoh’s as Hatsue. The children playing the young lovers are also very good. At first Hawke didn’t convince me that much, but then, especially by the end, he redeemed himself completely. The acting is very subtle, without going overboard anywhere (even in the final court speeches, which is a mistake many legal dramas tend to make!). von Sydow is particularly restrained. He has a lot to show and his character adds a sometimes much-needed warmth to the story. Playing things out with mostly looks, which is particularly important when it comes to the Japanese (who tend to restrain their emotions quite a lot in communication). While James Cromwell doesn’t exactly have as much to play as usually does, his judge is a professional and good performance. Sam Shepard’s screen time as Ishmael’s father is also interesting and very good especially in context of his behavior towards the Japanese.
A huge asset of the movie is the artistic cinematography of Robert Richardson, the man behind the camera for such directors as Oliver Stone or Quentin Tarantino (famously shot the Kill Bill movies and Inglorious Basterds). What he and Hicks achieved in this movie was a magical and almost mystical look, starting with the foggy events that lead to the court case, ending with the beautiful shots of the snowstorms that haunt the town, where it all takes place. They managed to avoid filming it in the typical Hollywood way, looking for angles that beautifully establish the story. Most importantly though, they don’t shy away from possible symbols (many people have noticed Christian symbols in the story, the fish and the white dove that is often shown flying in slow-motion). The war scenes feature some more hand-held work, but yet again nothing is overloaded. The war is used as an emotional background for the characters’ personalities, not to just add some body count. All this – the way the story is told and shot – makes it not a typical Hollywood legal drama/thriller about an important social or historical issue. It’s more of a poetic story about getting in terms with racial differences and own feelings about people, love and betrayal, tolerance and prejudice. The love scenes are handled particularly tastefully, rather than concentrating on titillation, they build on the sense of intimacy and their emotional background, especially in case of the scene between the deceased fisherman Carl and his wife Susan Marie. It’s just emotional and plain beautiful.
The mystical feel of the movie is heavily aided by the mostly restrained, very well arranged score by one of the best Hollywood composers, James Newton Howard. The idea is very simple, electronic background, a string orchestra, percussion and a shakuhachi. Usually a flashback-laden movie is scored in a way that uses the music to create a coherent feel to all of them (in simpler words, the music is there to tell us we’re in the same movie). Not this time. Howard’s work aids the emotions, adds intensity to events, helps building the mystical and poetic mood. In a way it’s not very far from many works that he did later for his friend M. Night Shyamalan. Again, it’s not a straightforward work. A religious use of choir also is used to add intensity, particularly in Ishmael’s war flashback (the movie doesn’t explain where exactly does it take place, the film’s soundtrack though establishes that it was the battle of Tarawa). While in the beginning of the scene, the choral element felt a bit over-intense and jarring, then it became more effective and emotionally compelling. Taking the character story into account, I must say that this way of underscoring a defining moment in his life is very effective and really touching. It’s also a brilliant piece of music on its own. The evacuation scene gets a kind of religious sound, originally authored by composers such as Arvo Part. The final scene is also underscored in a particularly compelling way.
All in all, Snow Falling on Cedars is a beautiful movie. It covers very important issues in history of America and also deals with the most important aspects of human life. The talent and craft put into it are really beautiful. It’s a piece of poetic brilliance, though it takes quite a while to establish itself (because of the cinematography and editing, and Ethan Hawke’s acting starts to convince only after a longer while). Myself, I really liked it and I am happy that I finally watched it. I had a lot of expectations about it and it wasn’t exactly what I expected, but in the end, it was as good.
****
Pawel
Eyes on Film - Film Reviews 