Pearl Horror 2001: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...."

By Burt Takeuchi
Nihonmachi Outreach Committee
5-23-01

Review based on a prescreening of the film made in Santa Clara CA. May 22nd, 2001 at the Mercado 20 Theaters. This is for the press and not a live audience.

The Good:
Pearl Harbor has fantastic special effects. Maybe the best aerial sequences ever created by Hollywood. It captures a young mans dreams on film ....the love of adventure and flying. The special effects are really dizzying so dont go if you get air sick.

Mako does a solid job portraying Admiral Yamamoto (Japan's greatest Naval Leader). Seaman Dorie Miller played by Cuba Gooding Jr was excellent. ( he was in the film for a short period of time)

Fortunately there is no overt stereotyping in the film. There is a scene of a Japanese American doctor (actor Vic Chao) trying to save a wounded soldier..but he gets pushed away "get away from me you Jap" (the scene is really really brief) Another is a really quick glimpse of a women fire crew who look to be Asian Pacific Islanders. (again a really quick shot)

The scene with the JA dentist "spy" was not as bad as what I had previously thought. The dentist character was called by an Imperial Japanese naval intelligence unit asking Hawai'ian locals about the weather conditions and ship movements. The signal was intercepted by MIS (Military Intelligence Service) which included a JA soldier as the interpreter. The dentist hung up the phone saying "what a strange call"..(Still feel that scene should have been edited to avoid any confusion about JA's spying for Imperial Japan. According to FBI statements by J Edgar Hoover there was no reason to suspect JA's at that time of being disloyal to the US)

Pearl Harbor 2 - The Bad