Rabbit in the Moon

Running time: 87 mins

There have been many fine film documentaries about the World War II internment of Japanese Americans. This one is different in the sense that while it, too, documents the losses of the internees, it also clearly shows the residue of bitterness felt by their children today and, very interestingly, the inter-generational divisions of those in the camps. The split between the Issei (Japanese-born) and the Nisei (American-born) prisoners and the active resistance by small numbers of people has not been clearly shown in other documentaries. Remarkable home movies made in the camps lend authenticity to the personal accounts and are contrasted with pre-war images of the Japanese-American community. The director, Emiki Omori, shows the still-lingering effects on Japanese-American society today as well as her own personal outlook. She has added many new layers of understanding of this very unjust and very tragic episode in America's continuing struggle to understand, absorb, and integrate other cultures into national life. --Ed Soohoo