Having loved David Guterson's novel, "Snow Falling on Cedars", we resisted in seeing the film based on it when it was released. Some times a book that is still alive in one's imagination doesn't compare well with what movie people can do to it; it can go either way. Fortunately, as in the case with this work, director Scott Hicks, who also helped to adapt it for the screen, shows a sensibility for the book as it shows in the finished product. The co-writer is Ronald Bass.
The film is told in flashbacks. We are given the premise of the discovery of Carl Heine's body tangled in the nets and then the film goes into the trial in which the accused man, Kazuo Miyamoto, stands trial in spite of the fact he is an innocent man. Kazuo was a man that happened to be at the scene of the crime, but had nothing to do with what happened. His only guilt was trying to get back what had been the family's land from Heine.
The film goes back to the time when Ishmael and Hatsue, who is now married to Kazuo, were childhood sweethearts. We see how inseparable they were and how they didn't stand a chance because they came from different ethnic groups. Hatsue's parents want her to stick to her own kind.
Prejudice is shown as Japanese immigrants living in America were interred in concentration camps. This shameful page in the history of the United States changed forever the relationship between Hatsue and Ishmael. Kazuo went to fight in WWII on the side of his adopted country. Ishamel also goes to the conflict and suffers a loss of an arm during his time at the front.
Ishmael, who is seen at the trial where he is reporting the process for his own newspaper, holds the key in solving the mystery. Even though he knows he will never have Hatsue back, he does the right thing in clearing her husband's name and his innocence.
The film was shot in dark tones that renders the film with a sepia finish. There is not much color in Robert Richarson's splendid cinematography as he captures the bleak atmosphere of the different times shown in the movie. The editing of Hank Corwin works well in the movie. The musical score by James Newton Howard is an elegant compliment to the images one sees on the screen.
Ethan Hawke's Ishmael has little dialog in the movie, yet, his expressions contribute to make his character a complex figure throughout the film. Youki Kudoh makes a beautiful Hatsue. Rick Yune plays the accused Kazuo. The great Max Von Sydow is seen as Kazuo's lawyer, the man who clearly understood what he was fighting for; he was an upright figure who opposed the prejudice and narrow mindedness of the small town. Sam Shepard, Richard Jenkins, Eric Thal, Arija Bareikis, James Cromwell and the others in the cast make valuable contributions to the success of the film.
Ultimately, this is a Scott Hicks film and he proves he had a vision in how to stage the novel for us to rejoice.
The film is told in flashbacks. We are given the premise of the discovery of Carl Heine's body tangled in the nets and then the film goes into the trial in which the accused man, Kazuo Miyamoto, stands trial in spite of the fact he is an innocent man. Kazuo was a man that happened to be at the scene of the crime, but had nothing to do with what happened. His only guilt was trying to get back what had been the family's land from Heine.
The film goes back to the time when Ishmael and Hatsue, who is now married to Kazuo, were childhood sweethearts. We see how inseparable they were and how they didn't stand a chance because they came from different ethnic groups. Hatsue's parents want her to stick to her own kind.
Prejudice is shown as Japanese immigrants living in America were interred in concentration camps. This shameful page in the history of the United States changed forever the relationship between Hatsue and Ishmael. Kazuo went to fight in WWII on the side of his adopted country. Ishamel also goes to the conflict and suffers a loss of an arm during his time at the front.
Ishmael, who is seen at the trial where he is reporting the process for his own newspaper, holds the key in solving the mystery. Even though he knows he will never have Hatsue back, he does the right thing in clearing her husband's name and his innocence.
The film was shot in dark tones that renders the film with a sepia finish. There is not much color in Robert Richarson's splendid cinematography as he captures the bleak atmosphere of the different times shown in the movie. The editing of Hank Corwin works well in the movie. The musical score by James Newton Howard is an elegant compliment to the images one sees on the screen.
Ethan Hawke's Ishmael has little dialog in the movie, yet, his expressions contribute to make his character a complex figure throughout the film. Youki Kudoh makes a beautiful Hatsue. Rick Yune plays the accused Kazuo. The great Max Von Sydow is seen as Kazuo's lawyer, the man who clearly understood what he was fighting for; he was an upright figure who opposed the prejudice and narrow mindedness of the small town. Sam Shepard, Richard Jenkins, Eric Thal, Arija Bareikis, James Cromwell and the others in the cast make valuable contributions to the success of the film.
Ultimately, this is a Scott Hicks film and he proves he had a vision in how to stage the novel for us to rejoice.