American Pastime
by Desmond Nakano
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DVD details
Actor: Big Budah, Jeff Herr (III), Jeff Olson, Jon Gries, Sami RoeDirector: Desmond Nakano
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-22
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Powerful story about the dramatic impact WWII had in the home-front as Japanese American families were uprooted from their every day lives and placed into internment camps in Western US in the early 1940's. Faced with a country that now doubted their loyalty and struggling with their new situation, they turn to baseball as a way to handle their plight and find the strength to stand up for themselv
DVD Reviews of American Pastime
DVD Review: History Lesson
Summary: 4 Stars
A well done portrayal of a pivotal time in the history of the United States. American Pastime reveals a portion of what life was like for the Japanese-Americans incarcerated in Relocation Camps. Tasteful in showing the hardships and challenges that faced families living in camps, it was true that for some, baseball and other sports are what saved their sanity. Also accurate is the fact that there were some people from Hawai'i that were sent to Topaz, the prejudice they faced, and the heavy loss of life suffered by the Go For Broke 442nd.
I was one of the extras in this movie and having done a three-year project developing lesson plans on Topaz for the Japanese-American National Museum, I can tell you that the director and producer were careful to remain as true to details as possible. Included in the many extras, were people who were actually incarcerated. They said the set was so well-done that if they didn't know better, they would have thought they were back in camp again.
DVD Review: Recounting a sad chapter in American history
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is not without flaw, but to me those flaws do not reduce the significance of the story it tells. American families under suspicion of being traitors, given ten days to settle their affairs and transported under guard to desolate places to live out much of the War. The internees struggle to make their living conditions better against the prejudice of some of the locals and their guards. An interracial love story arises amid all this - both fathers dead set against the relationship, while the mothers are more circumspect. A classic story. Baseball becomes the vehicle for understanding (at least for some).
A flaw - Somehow I think that the life story of the Japanese father should have been made a more prominent part of the film. Other than one conversation about his childhood and how baseball improved his life, we have almost no information about him. Though I like Gary Cole, I didn't think his character should have a larger role than Masatoshi Nakamura, Lyle's father. Not a major flaw - As one other commenter has mentioned, two of the actors playing Japanese American roles were not Japanese American. It's a little like having major Chinese American characters in a movie played by Japanese Americans (oops, that's been done before in Flower Drum Song!)
DVD Review: Connection to Farewell to Manzanar
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a high school English teacher and used this DVD to reinforce content from the novel Farewell to Manzanar. It was a good video but there were a few spots that you might want to fast forward through because of language or sexual reference. Teachers. always make sure you preview and catch those things!DVD Review: American Pastime and the Japanese Internment
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a teacher and teach a unit on tolerance to 8th graders. This movie was the perfect compliment to our reading Journey to Topaz and the study of how the human spirit can rise above all hardship! DVD Review: Anti-Americacan Propoganda
Summary: 1 Stars
"American Pastime" could have been an excellent film, but it fails utterly in character development.
The white people are virtually always bigoted, ignorant, and arrogant.
The Japanese are virtually always friendly, resourceful, courageous despite their circumstances.
The writers were less interested in character development and much more interested in presenting a highly slanted and biased portrayal of the War's impact on the psyche of America. This is unfortunate because they had ample material to write an excellent story. Sadly, the film spirals into a highly cliched and predictable ending.
Description of American Pastime
Powerful story about the dramatic impact WWII had in the home-front as Japanese American families were uprooted from their every day lives and placed into internment camps in Western US in the early 1940's. Faced with a country that now doubted their loyalty and struggling with their new situation, they turn to baseball as a way to handle their plight and find the strength to stand up for themselves becoming a true symbol of honor and pride.American Pastime views a dark slice of American history--the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II--affectingly through the prism of the all-American game of baseball. The film shines the light of hope through some of the bleakest moments in the lives of the relocated families, as baseball becomes a way to cope with the unmanageable. The stars, especially Masatoshi Nakamura, Judy Ongg, and Leonardo Nam, give hushed, affecting performances, allowing the story almost to unfold around them. Gary Cole (The West Wing) plays a minor-league player and guard at the internment camp Topaz, and pursues his own hopes of a major-league career against the near-nightmarish backdrop. Baseball has often been used as a metaphor in American film, but almost never as affectingly as in American Pastime. The DVD's making-of featurette, "Go for Broke: Behind American Pastime," is in some ways even more moving than the film, since it features interviews with real survivors of the internment camps, including Topaz and Manzanar. Also interviewed are several Japanese American soldiers from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, who courageously fought for America in World War II even as their family members and friends were detained in the camps. Cole says in the featurette, "America really wanted to sweep [the internment camps] under the rug"--but thanks to the film and the documentary, the real history can be illuminated. --A.T. Hurley
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