We Said No! No!: A Story of Civil Disobedience
The month of May is Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Heritage Month. This year, Santa Monica is hosting a multitude of AAPI events. One of these events was a documentary about Japanese-American history, specifically shedding light on their wrongful experiences with the Tule Lake internment camps, which were active from 1942 to 1946.
On Saturday, May 11, 2024, the Santa Monica Public Library hosted a screening of Brian Tadashi Maeda’s film “We Said No! No!: A Story of Civil Disobedience. The film has a runtime of 77 minutes and opens with four key characters in which the story is told through each of their different perspectives.
Director Maeda, Composer Malcolm Cross, Actor Hiro Matsunaga, and Producer Robert Lemelson hosted a discussion after the film's screening for guests to ask questions. This award-winning docu-drama follows the story of multiple people who were unjustly admitted to American concentration camps during World War ll.
Over 100,000 Japanese immigrants and US citizens alike were removed from their homes to go to these camps, accused of being spies. This violated many rights of Japanese-Americans. The camps were fenced off with barbed wire, and any stores or land they had prior were not returned when they were released.
“Being born in one of these places, I spent most of my life researching this and all the different aspects and avenues like I mentioned in the film,” Maeda began. “I’m basically taking the audience on a journey, on my journey, of self-discovery, and this is what came out.”
However, the documentary’s story was not the only element of the film that was praised. Many enjoyed the film score, stating that it helped emphasize the emotions of the scenes.
Composer Cross spoke on his affiliation with Maeda and his process of creating the film’s soundtrack. He expressed that though he was English, he experienced Japanese culture while playing the organ at the West LA Buddhist temple, which is also how he met Maeda.
“A rough form of the music had already been put in place that the editor and director already approved of. My job was to take that and to create new music based off that but still flowed and served the story,” Cross said.
As the film is culturally important, insightful, powerful, emotional, and nonfiction, it was met with many positive reviews by audience members. Many of the comments were thanking the presenters for their part in the movie and even sharing their own stories from that time. These stories consisted of the audience’s own stories about some experiences their parents or grandparents may have gone through.
From the loss of land to the horrible horrors of a jail cell, this documentary brings up an important piece of Japanese-American history that will not be forgotten.
