Come See the Paradise (1991)

During the late 1930s with the Second World War feverishly brewing Jack McGurn (Dennis Quaid) a struggling union activist working as a film projectionist in a San Francisco movie theater falls in love with beautiful Japanese-American Lily Kawamura (Tamlyn Tomita). Against Lily's father's wishes (and contrary to the California law of the time forbidding intermarriage) Jack and Lily wed and have a child. Their marriage flourishes until the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and America enters World War II. Japanese Americans--including Lily and her family--are herded into concentration camps by the thousands. Jack is drafted into the army but is prepared to risk life and limb to see his family again.The predominantly Japanese American cast paints a stunning collective portrait of the toll taken by the rash and racist internment of Japanese-Americans during the war. Director Alan Parker as he did in MISSISSIPPI BURNING uses his acute convincing storytelling abilities to take a brave look at a dark episode in America's past.System Requirements:Running Time: 135 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 024543244608 Manufacturer No: 2234460 Product Description

Difficult to believe, but true

This is the second time I see this film, so I was surprised by the dramatic reality of the Concentration Camps for Japanese in the USA the first time I saw it, not now. This time I was really captivated by how the whole human story and love story hurt, really hurt, and by a wonderful Dennis Quaid who I think played here maybe his best role as an actor. April 9, 2008

Caught between two sides in a conflict

This is an excellent movie about ordinary people who are caught between cultures in a time of war. This movie is a simple movie dealing with fear, prejudice, passion, and interracial relations in a time of conflict. It is a war movie about war on the homefront so don't expect any action scenes. It is one of my all time favorites. November 9, 2007

powerful.....

I first saw this a requirement for a history class, when we were studying the effects of Japanese internment in the United States on those who were forced to stay in the barracks, due to Executive Order 9066, authorized by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1942. This order allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones", from which "any or all persons may be excluded." This power was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and most of Oregon and Washington, except for those in internment camps. The seizure and relocation of all people of Japanese ancestry surged following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when anyone of that background was viewed potentially as a spy and "anti-American." COME SEE THE PARADISE takes a look at that part of United States history.

Irish-American Jack McGurn (Dennis Quaid) gets a job at a movie theater and falls in love with his boss's daughter, Lily Kawamura (Tomlyn Tomita). This enrages her father who fires Jack and forbids him to see her. Despite this, the couple continues to see each other and they leave for Seattle. It is at this time that all people of Japanese ancestry are being forceably placed in the internment camps.

This film is well-acted and I think it's wonderful to see the story and experience of the internment camps brought to life as an engaging film. This part of our nation's history needs to be acknowledged and I think that this film really pays tribute to all of the people whose lives were turned upside down because of the government enforced order between 1942 and 1946. August 18, 2007

At Long Last!

I first saw this movie on cable TV some years ago and loved it. I waited for what seemed like an eternity to get it on DVD but, finally, they made it available. I'd willingly give it 10 stars but I guess 5 is the max. It is simply excellent and a must-have movie. Now if I could only get --on DVD-- the 1985 movie "Marie" (Sissy Spacek, et al) and the 1999 movie "Gideon" (Christopher Lambert), I'd be one happy man! May 7, 2007

Come See The Paradise

The DVD was undamaged, however the carton containing the DVD was sliced
in many places and I had to tape it back together. I had ordered a new
DVD, but from seeing the packaging, I believe you sent me a used product. March 30, 2007

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