Only the Brave

On December 7 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy raided Hawaii's Pearl Harbor and decimated the United States Navy's Pacific battleships.

Two months later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, permitting the U.S. military to uproot thousands of West Coast Japanese and Japanese-Americans and ship them to inland interment camps.

In February of 1943, the ban on Japanese in the military was lifted and the 100th Battalion 442nd Regimental Combat Team was formed. Containing Japanese-American volunteers from Hawaii and, remarkably, from out of the mainland interment camps, the 100th/442nd was sent to Europe.

"Only The Brave" is a fictionalized account of the 100th/442nd's most famous success: the October 1944 rescue of the "Lost Battalion", the all-white "Texas" 141st, trapped behind enemy lines deep within the Vosges Mountains of France.

The movie opens during the battle for the town of Bruyeres, France. After a receiving a head wound, Sergeant Jimmy Takata (played by the film's writer and director, Lane Nishikawa) begins to "see" the memories of his dying troops. As they die, Takata also becomes a walking repository of their mementos: a signature pair of eyeglasses, a photograph of children, an engagement ring never given.

Through the Bruyeres battle and the five bloody days of desperate fighting it takes to break through the German line and rescue the 141st, Nishikawa uses Sergeant Takata as a metaphor for the quiet and proud generation of Japanese-Americans who endured life in the relocation camps, who fought in battle and who kept up the home front, but who have mostly held onto their stories. Nishikawa's moral is an old one: the release of the past brings healing for the future, but it is especially poignant given that so few of that generation remain.

Working with a limited budget and an abbreviated shooting schedule, Nishikawa wisely chose to "go small" with his shots. Each scene is personal to the viewer. Each battle is realistically chaotic without wide shots and multiple angles to give viewers their bearings. The result for the viewer is – as it is for the characters - an exhausted embrace of the story's pauses.

Nishikawa also "goes small" with his characters. The memories that haunt Takata are often short, deeply personal gut punches. The realistic pidgin banter between the "local boy" Hawaiian Japanese and the exploration of the tensions between the Hawaiian Japanese and the mainland "kotonk" Japanese are products of character development and not just tossed in for "authenticity".

Unlike many recent war films, there is little battle gore in "Only The Brave", making the infrequent bloody scenes that much more powerful.

The cast, featuring Nishikawa, Jason Scott Lee, Yuji Okumoto and Tamlyn Tomita, turn in solid performances but Pat Morita's cameo was a little wonky for me.

"Only The Brave" will definitely be worth watching when it is finally released into theaters. I was lucky enough to attend a private screening in Seattle. I'd gladly wait in line again.

I've read the negative reviews and the conclusion I draw from them is that their authors obviously refuse to look at the real purpose of the script.

The easy way to look at this movie is to see the courage and determination of those guys to save the Texas battalion from complete destruction. But is it really the point the script writer and the director wanted to stress out?

My answer is no. From my perspective as a French citizen this movie deals from the first image to the last about tolerance, respect of the one who is different from you . The USA after the shock of Pearl Harbor took measures totally inexcusable against citizens born in the country and treated like prisoners of war. In the Army those who nevertheless volunteered to join the allied forces, were like their fellow black compatriots , subject to racist behavior of the white soldiers.

The problem is that the bullet which kills you doesn't care if you're white, black or your skin yellow. The result is for all the same. Loss of life, grief of your companions on the battlefield and in the families and friends far away. For both groups fear is the same. For both groups you try to connect with some unreachable element which you call god with different names and which reassures you and gives you courage.

That's what this movie is all about. Perhaps some of the flashbacks could have been suppressed, but all in all the script is well constructed and the acting very convincing and many times very moving.

I really wanted to like this movie, even though seeing the bad reviews and grades, but I'm sorry to say I just couldn't. Already in the first scene,(incense and cultural clichés accompanied by ramblings), I was thinking "Nooo". Cheesy and conceited were adjectives that came to mind...

I'm very interested in military history, especially WWII. I have my roots in Finland, and therefore I have the same relationship to Finnish movies about the Winter war and Continuation war (btw something to take a look at for anyone interested in WWII, to see some of the least discussed but most astonishing military wonders of all times - a tiny Little poorly equipped army in a tiny little country, literally crushing the USSR Bear), as I suppose Asian Americans have to this movie, since it portrays a part of the US Army which seldom have gotten any recognition for their efforts and sacrifice.

(Also see "Days of glory", a rather good movie about the Algerian French soldiers in the French army during WWII - Another "forgotten" Group).

I also have a great interest and fair insight into different Asian cultures due to both personal interest and having several Asian in-laws in the family. Also, some of the areas in WWII history, which I have spent the most time on, are the affairs in Asia and the Pacific. So the genuine interest is there, and also a good insight and knowledge of actual history.

Still, I have to practically force myself through this syrupy mess... The degree of melodrama, over acting and oh-it's-so-sad, is so extensive that it makes me queasy. Everything is shoved in the face of the viewer, in a pathetically naïve way, leaving no room for any thought or reflexion. Nothing is subtle nor actually touching, since the director has drenched it all in banality and cheap clichés.

The acting is horrible and over dramatic overall, and leaves one with an uncomfortable feeling of embarrassment on the behalf of both the actors and the characters. They are all flat and one-dimensional, delivering predictable portraits with no depth. I would even say that the characters, in a way, mock and ridicule Asian Americans, and place the whole group in an old and clichéd POV. Which is both sad and frustrating.

The depiction of battle and warfare is badly acted, but mainly badly planned and executed by the director, giving an air of boys playing war at a paint-ball field, rather than actually being at the western front. Low budget is not an excuse since many movies pull it off anyway.

The script is annoying in it's throws hence and forth, and in it's lack of continuity and a red thread. The scenes don't drive the story forwards, but just seem random and confused. Dialogue is mostly bad.

Overall, this movie is a crappy mess with not much good to be said about. And that's irritating since this forgotten part of WWII-history is a very interesting one, and a movie made by a good director, with a good script and screenplay, with good actors, could have made it a see worthy pearl of a flick, instead of a pathetic puddle of syrup. :( I can't even recommend it to anyone except maybe descendants of the Asian American soldiers from the US troops of WWII. I think they could have some kind of benefit from this Movie, otherwise, it's mostly a waste of time. See something good instead.

Sad to say, because I so much would have wanted to like this.

But Lane Nishikawa kind of fu*ed up. Seriously badly so.

I was privileged to be able to see this movie @ a screening put on by the filmmaker @ The Majestic Theatre in Seattle Washington. This movie was very eye-opening for anyone that hasn't experienced or looked into the Japanese during the time they were put into internment camps.

There are some great action scenes but also slow scenes... they all intermix and show the lives of the people fighting in an American War. I thought this movie was very moving and touching but very slow at some points where the point was made and needed to move on. The acting in this movie was great and at some points, I almost shed a tear because the movie was so touching. I would recommend this movie to anyone willing to learn about cultural differences between Americans and Japanese-Americans.

I was fortunate enough to see this playing on a big screen on the beach in Waikiki. The courage of the men whose action this film recounts is extremely humbling and I got teary-eyed more than once while watching the film. Given the low budget, the director truly did an amazing job. It's a shame that the film didn't get a wide-spread release because every American should know about the sacrifices the men of the 100th IN Battalion / 442nd RCT made to protect our nation and bring freedom to the people of Europe. I know what a touchy thing it is for Soldiers when someone tells them that they are heroes, because they were doing their job, but the men this film depicts truly were American heroes, risking and in many cases sacrificing their lives in defense of a nation that had turned against them and their families. It makes their valor that much more incredible. The film was truly a labor of love for everyone involved, and it shows, because obviously the film will never be a huge commercial success. However, the writer-director has earned my respect for preserving this part of history on film. I hope this film will be available on DVD in the near future.