The aforementioned two brothers are seen boarding a bus in California, dressed in military uniform in the year 1944, however they do get some nasty glares from another passenger. One of the brothers does not wish to meet Harry, who is their father, and decides to stay on the bus instead. In an unexpected turn, one of the brothers, Minoru, accepted to join the US Army and wanted to meet Harry. Predictably enough, Harry was not pleased with his son and his choices of “wanting to fight for America”. This created tension between them as Harry directly stated that he had only country which was Japan and for his son, America was his only country.
The brothers are then shown alongside other US allied soldiers of Japanese origin in Italy preparing to raid a house. The video soon turns distressing when the soldiers find a little girl in the raid, but a twist is soon expected as the girls sorrowful fate is untold.
Darren Haruo Rae is the director of a two part film, a family drama and a war/action film. They are intermated and interjected with each other throughout the film’s duration, which gives a sense of harmony to the two quarters of the film, which makes it more interesting. The family dynamic is made gorgeous by the son-father scene. Caleb Wheeler’s editing and the tone here are perfect for each other, however, that is not the only reason why it has been included as one of the aspects of the film. The dramatic moments are in line with the rest of the movie, as they are meant to do, but the pace does tend to increase slightly nearer to the close.
For one, it is easy to claim that the ending sequence, in particular, tends to be excessively sentimental and on the nose “patriotic”, with the voice of the father almost endorsing that alongside the over the top music. That in the end, the honorable samurai is revered and this samurai is not a common Japanese soldier rather, it is the United States army as a whole, certainly detracts from the gist of the film along with shifting it to the direction mentioned earlier.
Of the acting roles, it is Shiro Kawai who particularly shines the brightest to the starring role of Jinkichi Miyasaki and Jinkichi Miyasaki succeeds in that and also does his best to showcase with great detail the conditions in which the first Japanese immigrants to America lived there.
But to the contrary, the film is produced to such a high standard, especially the battle sequences which are quite masterfully crafted in a dramatic way thanks to the work of cinematographer Connor Van Bodell, the efficiency of the editing, and the work achieved in sound. The music is also well done for an extra bonus, and the same can be said about the movie’s overall visual impression.
The eye of the director shines through the work: writing and composition. Overall, it makes sense, but Nisei is one of those films that could use more time so that Rae’s observations can be presented/implemented more seamlessly and that the context is succinct and accurate. In this case, however, it definitely makes sense.
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