American Pastime tells a poignant story set against the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. Rounded up and uprooted from their everyday lives, they remained loyal to the United States and ironically turned to that most American of sports - baseball - as a way to deal with their plight.
Gary Cole Leonardo Nam Aaron Yoo Masatoshi Nakamura Judy Ongg Jon Gries Susanna Thompson Seth Sakai Sarah Drew Olesya Rulin Carleton Bluford Sami Roe Charles Halford Leroy "Big Budah" Te'o Kerry Yo Nakagawa Junko Yamamoto Kale Nakagawa Tod Huntington Jeff Herr John Kruk Yukari Kama Richard Allen Mark Nilson Jeff Olson Kerry Shimizu Lee Joey Miyashima
Минало американско, בידור אמריקאי, Méltatlan előítélet, 아메리칸 패스타임, Uma Família Americana, 我们的星条旗
USANR
USA
History teachers when they show movies...
“Alright you guys were gonna watch a movie in class today”
Some kid asks, “what movie is it?”
Teacher says some unheard of movie and that we’ll have to take notes over it.
*after the movie is over*
“Almost none of what went on in this movie is true besides like the obvious parts”
While being a very sugar-coated look at America's WWII internment camps for Japanese Americans, this is also a very sobering look at racist attitudes of the era. While having the backdrop of a sports drama there are a few underlying themes that really tug at the emotions, such as the forbidden romance between a military leader's daughter and a young Japanese man, and the dignity and honor carried by Japanese Americans during the Great War. This is a solid movie that I think stands to teach folk today about how the attitudes of yesterday have shaped the social tensions of today and the effect that racist attitudes have on younger generations. While I only rate it three stars (cause I'm an action junkie) this is one I will probably find myself recommending to folks frequently.
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You could criticize American Pastime for being too saccharine and wholesome, for sidelining the Japanese American internees who refused to take the oath of loyalty to the US government, and for narrowing its scope to exclude the horrors of the 442nd's combat deployment.
But simply for being the only narrative feature film on the topic of WWII internment camps (to my knowledge), I think this a worthy educational experience that should appeal to history buffs, sports film fans, and general audiences in equal measure.
Engrossing drama starts a bit wobbly but quickly finds its footing and builds to a terrific climax. Smartly uses baseball to explore patriotism and racism during a truly shameful episode in American history. Unexpectedly relevant, I’m sad to say.
Underrated drama focusing on a group of Japanese who are prisoners in in an internment camp during the Second World War that try to regain a sense of normslcy of what they lost by playing Americas great game, Baseball against the camps guards. Simple, yet well made, I really liked the film and thought it was an underrated feature that had a good storyline, compelling acting and good direction. American Pastime doesn't overdo anything to make it entertaining and relies on a good story. The film I thought had some good acting and effective pacing that didn't lose time in getting to the point.
The Japanese internment camps were awful things that happened durin Japanese-Americans during the war, now I…
I’ve got to takashitta
Second time watching this cause history classes keep showing it
All a baseball movie really has to do is nail its "big game," and I'll forgive anything that came before.
I have no doubt that the vast majority of the 120,000 Japanese Americans who suffered through wartime internment did so with dignity and a desire to demonstrate their loyalty to the United States government. But the melodrama of this film - focused primarily on sports and music - pays little more than lip service to the economic and psychological devastation of internment, not to mention the less-than-ideal medical care and living conditions of the camps. What's more, it short-sells a lot of potential family drama, generational dynamics, and characterization that could have emerged if the film were less determined to constantly demonstrate the decency of the prisoners. This film is a good faith effort but it feels less like a…
I fucking hate how this movie sugarcoats all the actual harsh treatment and racism of what actually happened.
