Come See the Paradise

1990 "In 1942 over 100,000 Americans were interned in prison camps. In America."
6.7| 2h13m| R| en
Details

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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Reviews

Twilightfa Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.
Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
hrudolph-85358 This film, though not as historical and educational as it could have been on the topic of Japanese internment camps during World War II, was not meant to be a historical documentary. The film depicts the lives of Japanese American citizens as their lives undergo immense changes with the beginning of internment camps. The main focus of this movie is the love story between Jack and Lily, however there are some historically accurate parts of the film worth paying attention to. The depiction of life right before entering the camp and then later in the camp is worth noting. Leading up to the camp we are able to see the racism these Japanese Americans had to face, with vandalism and assault towards anyone resembling a Japanese person. The movie then spends a short amount of time depicting life inside the camp, however we get glimpses of the struggles facing those encamped. For example, there is the struggle each person faces of which country to pledge their allegiance to. First off, they don't know who is going to win the war and pledging either way could present dangers to them later. Second, pledging to America may be hard since Americans are the ones interning them, however, they are American citizens and so pledging to a country some of them have never even been to may seem weird and hard to do. In addition, the film does depict the struggle to maintain identity in the camp, demonstrated by Lily's father. Overall the camp experience is historically accurate even if it only takes up a small portion of the film. This movie could have been improved in many ways to make it more historical, however I completely understand why it was made this way. It is a hollywood film made for a large audience, and this audience doesn't want a documentary on Japanese internment camps. The love story between jack and Lily was 100% necessary to attract a large audience because that is the type of thing Americans look for in a film. For the average American not watching this movie through a historical lens, I would say it's a decent movie. It's better to have a movie with some historical facts and other faults that a large audience will watch than a completely historically accurate film which will only attract those already interested in history. At least a good portion of people are now gaining a broad knowledge on Japanese internment camps.
efishbin 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.
eritchey-46322 As the title of my review states, I enjoyed Come See the Paradise and feel as though it represented Japanese-American internment well, but the film did make some choices with which I do not agree.The film did well in depicting internment. One thing that some Americans may struggle with is being critical of the country many call "the land of the free", but this film does not shy away from criticizing the United States' decision to unjustly intern those of Japanese descent during World War II. This can be seen when Lily argues with white camp officials, calling the camp a prison and when Charlie, an American citizen who barely spoke any Japanese, repatriates to Japan after the war, disgusted with the internment. Seeing a Hollywood film about American citizens encamped could open viewer's eyes to an ugly part of the United States' history and serve as a warning that freedoms can be infringed upon and that we must do our part to stop anything like this from happening within the United States again.The film also did a decent job at showing how the camp interrupted the lives of Japanese-Americans. The Kawamura family had a thriving movie theater and a beautiful home, but all of this was taken away in an instant with encampment. Although the aftereffects of the camp are hardly explored, the Kawamura family members do not have their lives to return to in Los Angeles, showing how a camp experience can impact people even after liberation.All this being said, the film did have its problems. Although the portrayal of these camps was realistic and critical, not nearly enough time was spent showing camp life. There was far too much buildup to encampment; I hardly think that there was much reason to start in 1936. I am also unsure if there was a need for the character of Jack. The camps were the experiences of Japanese-Americans and people of Japanese descent, so I believe the focus should have been solely on them without the inclusion of a white male character although I realize that without Dennis Quaid, the film might not have accessed as wide of an audience as it did.
Milos I just saw this movie and was surprised to see so little comments on its page. This movie is a true little gem. The performances of the actors are excellent and the story is interesting from both the historical and the character aspect of the script. The movie is also very romantic so you can maybe use it as a nice way of spending an evening with your girlfriend/boyfriend or wife/husband.Excellent photography, nice costumes and all around emotional performances that make you really fall in love with the characters make this movie an real surprise. The only problem that I have with it is that it is maybe a little too long. I found myself looking at the watch a couple of times.