Film Review: Come See the Paradise (1990)

Wars, especially those of the global scope like the one the world is heading towards now, have ability to turn otherwise normal and decent individuals into monsters. They can do the same to states that consider themselves to be the beacons of freedom, democracy and other noble ideals. Eighty decades ago United States government did despicable thing to its citizens, not very different from the things done by the likes of Hitler and Stalin. This shameful episode is subject of Come See the Paradise, 1990 drama written and directed by Alan Parker.

Plot, narrated by Japanese American woman Lily Yuriko Kawamura (played by Tamlyn Tomita) comes to her young daughter Mini (played by Carolin Junko King) in early 1950s, begins in 1936 New York City. Protagonist is Jack McGurn (played by Dennis Quaid), film projectionist and militant labour union activist. Displeased with the way campaign against non-union theatres turned into violence and danger to the public, he is thrown out of union and decides to try his luck in Los Angeles. He gets hired by Hiroshi Kawamura (played by Sab Shimono), Japanese immigrant and owner of theatre in Little Tokyo. McGurn quickly befriends young members of Kawamura family who grew up in USA, have citizenship and consider themselves more American than Japanese. He also falls in love with Hiroshi’s daughter Lily and she falls in love with him. Father, bound by tradition refuses to bless their union and even bigger problem for young lovers are California’s laws that prohibit interracial marriage. Jack and Lily leave Los Angeles and move to Seattle where they legally marry and have young daughter named Mini. Jack finds job at the docks where he becomes union activist again and ends in jail following confrontation with police. This coincides with Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and before Jack gets released Lily, her family and the rest of Japanese American community is ordered to leave almost all their possession and go to desert internment camps. Jack, who was in the meantime enlisted in US Army, tries to keep in touch with his family and is even willing to go AWOL in order to see them. But he can’t do much to help them and Lily, like the rest of her family, must endure years of confinement, deprivations and tragedy behind barbed wire.

Alan Parker, very talented and versatile British director, looked like a good choice for this kind of story. His passion in conveying his own political beliefs and condemning dark chapters of US history worked very well in his previous film Mississippi Burning. Unfortunately, here he was failed by his script that succumbed to Hollywood cliches, including those that would later make this film cited as top example of Oscar Bait. The most obvious is use of white protagonist who serves as audience’s window into exotic minority culture. Parker tried to make things a little bit less obvious by having Jack with his left-wing beliefs being as outside American mainstream as people unfortunate to have Japanese ancestry after Pearl Harbor. However, the film takes almost entire hour before showing the actual internment, which is handled through editing, narration and in unsatisfying way that leaves Come See the Paradise without much of the plot. On the other hand, Parker creates couple interesting scenes, especially those that show his great fondness for music and include effective use of period songs. Unfortunately, conventional and synth-heavy score by Randy Edelman sounds too anachronistic and makes Come See the Paradise look cheaper than it actually is. The cast is at top form, especially Dennis Quaid who shows great charm in somewhat thankless role and has good chemistry with Tamlyn Tomita. Come See the Paradise as unpleasant reminder of America’s shady past completely failed in its attempts to win precious awards and was all but ignored by audience. Those who watch it now will be at times impressed by Parker’s skill but probably depressed because the world apparently learned nothing from past mistakes and that the events depicted here are actually very likely to repeat in near future even in seemingly most enlightened and progressive places.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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