Winner of last year's Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film, Chris Tashima's Visas and Virtue, inspired by the true story of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who issued thousands of life-saving visas to Jews in Lithuania in 1940, is--to put it plainly--a mawkish, leaden trifle that seems to have triumphed on the basis of its feel-good story more than any actual artistic accomplishment. Based on a play, most of the action takes place over a period of days when Sugihara, ignoring directives from Tokyo, continues issuing visas to Jews fleeing Lithuania. In the film's central dramatic set piece, a Jewish mother (whose baby was killed) offers to feed Sugihara's ailing infant with, I think we're supposed to metaphorically gather, the milk of human kindness. And that might have been a very powerful scene in the more abstract setting of a play, but in the realistic medium of film it comes across as cheaply manipulative and melodramatic. Ultimately, we see Chiune Sugihara as a well-meaning, even heroic man, whose motivations, thoughts, and actions are, nevertheless, a cipher. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: J, H, C, P. (R. Pitman)
Visas and Virtue
(1997) 26 min. $195: public libraries/K-12 schools; $225: academic libraries. Cedar Grove Productions (dist. by NAATA). PPR. Color cover. ISBN 0-9667392-0-5. Vol. 14, Issue 3
Visas and Virtue
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