Snow Falling on Cedars (film)

Snow Falling on Cedars is a film directed by Scott Hicks. It is based on David Gutersons awardwinning novel of the same title. It was released in 1999 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

Spearheading the prosecution are the towns sheriff, Art Moran Richard Jenkins, and prosecutor, Alvin Hooks James Rebhorn. Leading the defense is the old, experienced attorney Nels Gudmundsson Max von Sydow. An underlying theme throughout the trial is prejudice. Several witnesses, including Etta Heine Celia Weston, Carls mother, accuse Kazuo of murdering Carl for racial and personal reasons. Etta is a stereotypical antiJapanese person she represents the part of America that persecuted Japanese Americans during the Second World War. This stance is not without irony, as Kazuo a decorated war veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, experienced prejudice because of his ancestry, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By the same standard, Etta, a German American, could be blamed for Nazi war crimes.Also involved in the trial is Ole Jurgensen, an elderly man who sold his strawberry field to Carl. The strawberry field is a contested issue during the trial. The land was originally owned by Carl Heine Sr. The Miyamotos lived in a house on the Heines land and picked strawberries for Carl Sr. Kazuo and Carl Jr. were close friends as children. Kazuos father eventually approached Carl Sr. about purchasingacres 28,000m2 of the farm. Though Etta opposed the sale, Carl Sr. agreed. The payments were to be made over a tenyear period. However, before the last payment was made, war erupted between the U.S. and Japan, and all islanders of Japanese ancestry were forced to relocate to internment camps. In 1944, Carl Sr. died and Etta sold the land to Ole. When Kazuo returned after the war, he was extremely bitter toward Etta for reneging on the land sale. When Ole suffered a stroke and decided to sell the farm, he was approached by Carl Jr., hours before Kazuo arrived, to try to buy the land back. During the trial, the land is presented as a family feud and the motivation behind Carls murder. ........

Source: Wikipedia