Rabbit on the Moon

Among other bizarre, heinous and embarrassing situations created by the rather totalitarian-ish internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, one interviewee points out that Nisei inmates (i.e., first generation Japanese born in America) were being asked to volunteer "for the U.S. Army out of a concentration camp into segregated units to fight for democracy." When pointing out these examples of pretzel logic and/or blatant subterfuge on the part of the U.S. government, Emiko Omori's Rabbit on the Moon rises above its otherwise somewhat scattershot memoir of camp life. Beautifully filmed, the first half of the film treads familiar territory in its chronicling of the "evacuations" (the difference being that Omori's personal details regarding her family's experiences add a human face to the often inhumane proceedings). For me, however, the story really comes alive in the second half, when camp life stories give way to an absorbing examination of the clash between the Issei (Japanese immigrants) and Nisei, a subject which continues to divide the Japanese-American community to this day (as well as one which took a lot of guts on Omori's part to openly investigate). The film makes a convincing argument that the J.A.C.L. (Japanese-American Citizens League), in its exclusion of Japanese elders who were not American citizens, played into the hands of the American powers-that-be in policy-making that would adversely affect the Issei. At the end of the war, Japanese-Americans released from the camps would receive somewhat less than forty acres and a mule: to be precise, each received a $25 stipend to begin a life that had been horrendously and shamefully interrupted. Winner of a Best Documentary Cinematography award at Sundance last year, in addition to a NEMN Silver Apple award, this behind-the-scenes look at the politics of the Japanese-American internment during WWII is recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)