Snow Falling on Cedars (film)
| Snow Falling on Cedars | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Scott Hicks |
| Produced by |
Ron Bass Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall Harry J. Ufland |
| Screenplay by | Ron Bass Scott Hicks |
| Based on |
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson |
| Starring |
Ethan Hawke Youki Kudoh Max von Sydow Reeve Carney James Cromwell Anne Suzuki Rick Yune |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Edited by | Hank Corwin |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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127 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $35,000,000 |
| Box office | $23,049,593 |
Snow Falling on Cedars is a film directed by Scott Hicks. It is based on David Guterson's award-winning novel of the same title. It was released in 1999 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the northern Puget Sound region of the Washington state coast in 1950, the plot revolves around the murder case of Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune), a Japanese American accused of killing Carl Heine, a White fisherman. The trial occurs in the midst of deep anti-Japanese sentiments following World War II. Covering the case is the editor of the town's one-man newspaper, Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke), a World War II veteran who lost an arm fighting the Japanese in the Pacific War. Ishmael struggles with his childhood, and continuing, love for Kazuo's wife, Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), and his conscience, wondering if Kazuo is truly innocent.
Spearheading the prosecution are the town's sheriff, Art Moran (Richard Jenkins), and prosecutor, Alvin Hooks (James Rebhorn). Leading the defense is the old, experienced attorney Nels Gudmundsson (Max von Sydow). An underlying theme throughout the trial is prejudice. Several witnesses, including Etta Heine (Celia Weston), Carl's mother, accuse Kazuo of murdering Carl for racial and personal reasons. Etta is a stereotypical anti-Japanese person; she represents the part of America that persecuted Japanese Americans during the Second World War. This stance is not without irony, as Kazuo (a decorated war veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team), experienced prejudice because of his ancestry, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By the same standard, Etta, a German American, could be blamed for Nazi war crimes.
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