Resistance at Tule Lake

While many have heard of the shameful incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II, most are unaware of just how bad things were at Tule Lake, CA, where thousands of Issei (i.e., first-generation immigrants who came to the U.S. from Japan) and Nisei (the offspring of those immigrants) were held under martial law. Filmmaker Konrad Aderer’s documentary offers a sad revelation of the extent of the race-based misery that the U.S. inflicted on fellow Americans who were reclassified as "enemy aliens," including beatings, torture, prisons within prisons, and a relentless pressure to make Japanese-Americans’ lives so unbearable that they would renounce their citizenship and move to Japan (where many had never been before). Set against these policies was the resistance by some leaders among the prisoners, whose mobilization of a confined community was met with violence by their military captors. While there are many fine documentaries about these internment camps on U.S. soil, Resistance at Tule Lake stands out for revealing the more extreme examples of official cruelty, drawing on interviews with survivors and historians who detail the horror of this almost unimaginable tragedy. Extras include bonus interviews. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)