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ONLY THE BRAVE

2 April Sunday, 3pm
CHICAGO PREMIERE
Lane Nishikawa | 2005 | 97 min | video | USA
Starring Lane Nishikawa, Jason Scott Lee, Mark Dacascos, Tamlyn Tomita, and the late Pat Morita

Due to high demand and the first screening already sold out, a, second screening has been added for Sunday April 2, 12:30pm

Like most war movies, Only the Brave is the story of courage under fire and the sacrifices made by soldiers on the battlefield. More importantly, it is a dramatic account of what can be considered
one of the greatest ironies of American history, that of the experiences of the Japanese American community during World War II.
Lane Nishikawa wrote, directed, and stars in this WWII drama that was inspired by actual experiences of his four Nisei uncles who were among thousands of Japanese Americans who volunteered to serve in the 100th Battalion / 442nd Regimental Combat Team and whose
bravery and courage helped turn the tide of the war in Europe. Even more remarkable, these men were defending our country while their families were detained in internment camps back in the States; American citizens whose civil liberties were stripped away through swift legislation in the name of “National Security.”
Nishikawa plays U.S. Army Sgt. Jimmy Takata whose platoon has just received orders to rescue the “Lost Battalion,”Texans of the 141st Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, trapped behind enemy lines in the Vosges forest. We see these Nisei (second generation Japanese American) soldiers suffer and overcome on the front lines when faced against the enemy but, through painful
and often heartbreaking flashbacks, we see what they had to endure from the soldiers with whom they were fighting along side, and what their families were forced to go through on the home front.
In honor of our Nisei Veterans, this program is co-presented by the Chicago Japanese Historical Society,
The Japanese American Citizen League, and the Japanese American Service Committee.

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