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"I saw the film "Snow Falling On Cedars" last
night in a Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) rerun theater. The movie affected me
deeply, since I worked for several summers in the Pacific Northwest (fighting
forest fires in central Idaho), and I have traveled to Seattle and Vancouver
Island as well as to the central British Columbia area where some of the snow
and cedars scenes were filmed. I also had encountered the entire sad story of
the American Indian while working in central Idaho - I read everything I could
about Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce march of 1877, one of the great tragic
chapters of American history which rarely surfaces in modern textbooks. In that
sense, it was good background for experiencing "Snow Falling On
Cedars."
I appreciated your review a lot - I note that many reviewers
dismissed the film for various reasons, but I felt that the flashback technique
in this case advanced the story. Since the lead characters are so emotionally
withdrawn anyway, what better way to show their story than through flashbacks. I
also thought of the Kurosawa technique in "Rashomon" where there are
multiple views of the same truth. In short, I agreed with your perceptions.
During the film, I thought of the Academy Awards. I could see the film, the
roles of von Sydow and Youki Kudoh (Hatsue), perhaps even cinematography and
music as worthy of nominations, but somehow I knew it would never happen. That
observation probably tells us something about the kinds of films which are
nominated for Academy Awards."
(Dr.) Louis J. Reith
Rare Book Cataloger
Georgetown University Library
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