The highly decorated 442nd heads for the big screen
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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| Japanese-American infantrymen of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team run for cover from Nazi artillery during World War II. Playwright Ed Sakamoto hopes to create a movie from a play based on the wartime heroism of local boys.
Associated Press library photo • April 4, 1945 'Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire' A dinner and fund-raiser 5:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday Club 100, opposite Iolani School $35 ($30 in advance) On the Web: 442movie.com |
There are still more ducks to line up, however.
Rice Eye Productions has won approval for an Act 221 tax credit, and is awaiting word on a grant application from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.
"We're hoping that we get the funds to do it," said Sakamoto, a former Advertiser and Los Angeles Times reporter who has become a prolific author of plays that deal with Asian-American and Asian-Pacific lives and conflicts.
More than 10 of Sakamoto's works have been set in the Islands and staged by Kumu Kahua, the little-theater group that specializes in works about Hawai'i stories and people, as well as the University of Hawai'i Theatre.
Advertiser drama critic Joe Rozmiarek called "Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire" "a broad-scope epic on the transformation of the lives of Hawai'i Japanese during World War II." First produced in 1994 and revived in 1998, it is the first of Sakamoto's plays to make the transition to the big screen.
A July launch is hoped for on the filmed story of the men of the celebrated and much-decorated 100th Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and their families. It would be this generation's take on the wartime effort, previously shown in the Hollywood film, "Go for Broke," a 1951 film starring Van Johnson.
Sakamoto is eliminating a section on a white family so the movie conforms to a desired two-hour running time, and to add a few battle scenes to better illustrate the impact of the war on Japanese Americans and their families.
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| Edward Sakamoto says his movie's theme of triumph over prejudice is more relevant than ever for post-9/11 America.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser |
"On stage, it's hard to write battle scenes; they come off as artificial," he said. "But in the movie, I wanted to show how these veterans were courageous in battle." As for the pidgin, he said, "This is real to the people of Hawai'i. About the only place you can hear pidgin now (elsewhere) is on 'Hawai'i Five-O' and 'Magnum P.I.' (reruns). Nothing mainstream."
Sakamoto is particularly happy about prospects for bringing new attention to the dedication and loyalty of 1940s Japanese Americans from Hawai'i, particularly at a time when other resident ethnic groups — this time, Arabs and Muslims — find themselves subjected to unfounded suspicion and bigotry.
"I think of the Middle Eastern Americans who find themselves caught in a web of discrimination now, and I know my movie will touch a nerve," he said. "The movie will show how a minority, the Japanese Americans, rose against the prejudice of other people; how a minority, in another era, faced this kind of obstacle still prevalent today."
Support from a yonsei
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"I saw the play while a student at the UH. It was a class assignment at the time," said Hayashi, now executive producer of the film effort. "I believe it's time we share these stories of Japanese-American veterans and their families, even at a time when this nation may be going to war," she said.
The film's budget, at $100,000, will be modest, but even so, raising money remains a key goal.
Hayashi has used Hawai'i actors to film the two-minute promotional trailer, which will premiere at a fund-raising and informational event Saturday at Club 100, the Mo'ili'ili hangout of the 442nd veterans. Two state legislators and sometimes actors, Jon Karamatsu and Marcus Oshiro, appear in the trailer.
"I have to give a lot of credit to Stacey," said Sakamoto, who is here to fire up support for the movie and the fund-raising. "She contacted me about the possibility of doing the movie, something I was hoping for. It's particularly great to have a yonsei pushing for the project, and she said she will get it done."
Sakamoto is on the production team, in a capacity still being negotiated. "I'm acting as if I'm a partner," he said. "I plan to come back and live in Hawai'i while the movie is being made."
Jim Nakamoto, a stage veteran here who directed one version of "Our Hearts," could emerge as the director of the movie, Hayashi said, although that has not been finally determined.
Casting would follow later.
Sakamoto said he's already completed a television play and a screenplay for two other stage plays, "Manoa Valley," destined to become a television movie, and
" 'A'ala Park," envisioned as a $1 million independent film. He said both are still in negotiations but would be produced by other groups, apart from the "Our Hearts" project.
All three Sakamoto works have been artistic and financial successes on Hawai'i stages.
Shooting locally
"If possible, I want to have all of these shows filmed in Hawai'i, cast in Hawai'i, to continue to give our local actors work and exposure," he said. "All three plays have been very successful on stage, and I did want to capture and expose, especially the story of 'Our Hearts,' the spirit of the men who lived and died in the war, which would enable future generations to know their stories."
Sakamoto has been writing plays for 30 years, but has devoted full time to his art since 1995.
"The funny thing is when I wanted to quit my job at The Advertiser, Buck Buchwach (the late managing editor) asked me, 'What can I say to have you stay?' " Sakamoto recalled. "I often wondered what my life would have been like if I stayed.
"I think I've written my plays, with the themes of displacement from home, because I left. My plays and my characters deal with the issue of not being part of the community, of change that come from leaving home."
