Lane Nishikawa’s movie is screened on Maui.On Good Friday, the ‘Iao Theater was filled to capacity for the long-awaited definitive film about the most decorated unit in the history of the U.S. Army, the legendary 100th Battallion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Only the Brave—written, directed and starring Hawai‘i-born Lane Nishikawa—is the culmination of a journey for Nishikawa that began in conversations 20 years ago with his uncles, three of whom were members of the fabled regiment. The regiment’s motto was “Go for Broke,” symbolizing both their courage and their attitude.
Nishikawa, one of America’s foremost Asian actors, has been poking fun at the way in which Asians are portrayed in American film and television for his entire career. Along with Spalding Gray and Whoopi Goldberg, Nishikawa pioneered the one-man theatrical show. His works, such as Life in the Fast Lane, I’m on a Mission from Buddha, and Mifune and Me, explored the discrimination and frustration that Asian-Americans experience in publishing, film, television and the stage. Both Gila River, which dramatizes the dilemma for Nissei in World War II when two brothers find themselves fighting on opposite sides; and The Gate of Heaven, where Nishikawa presents the relationship between a Holocaust survivor and his Japanese-American liberator and the mutual discrimination they face, are plays that explore little known subjects.
Here on Maui, Nishikawa has presented two of his three plays at the McCoy Studio Theater and worked with Maui Economic Opportunity’s B.E.S.T. prisoner reintegration program, presenting dramatizations of inmates’ words developed in Nishikawa’s writing workshops. His first effort was judged the best play of the year by The Maui News.
The film has been touring throughout the country on the festival circuit in search of a distributor. To date, Nishikawa has been included in 17 festivals, and he has 20 more cities to which to take the film. He says he may return to Maui at the end of this year or the start of next year.
Nishikawa credits producers Karen Criswell, Eric Hayashi and Jay Koiwai for the production’s success. They oversaw every aspect of the movie and were extremely instrumental in fundraising.
The project began with a seed grant of $100,000 from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program. Then the National Japanese American Historical Society raised additional funds through selling equity partners and obtaining donations from hundreds of families of the 100th/442nd. Also, according to the official Website, www.onlythebravemovie.com, several companies either discounted or donated their services, facilities, or equipment. Among these were NBC/Universal Studios which gave access to its back lot locations, sets, lighting, props and staff expertise; Kodak Film which provided an additional 30 reels to supplement purchased film; Panavision which provided use of its state-of-the-art Super 16 cameras at a steep discount; and the New Otani Hotel in Los Angeles for 100 complimentary room nights to house the cast and crew.
Even with this effort, the project did not have the kind of budget the story deserved. Nishikawa said, “The cast and the crew literally donated their time, their pay was so low. But everyone really believed in the project and wanted to see it made.”
The film was made in an astounding 18 days. Nishikawa talked about the first day of live fire on the set when they were shooting in Pasadena Park. They had all of their permits and were fully legal, but when they started shooting and blowing things up, “You would have thought the crime of the century had been committed,” Nishikawa said. “SWAT teams and police came from everywhere; they even had a helicopter. We were forced to do all of the future live fire filming between 8:30 and 10 p.m.”
Nishikawa was blessed with one of the most talented Asian-American casts ever assembled, including Jason Scott Lee, Yuji Okumoto, Tamlyn Tomita, Ken Narasaki, Gina Hiraizumi, Emily Liu, Mark Dacascos and the late Pat Morita in one of his final film appearances. Also in the cast were Jeff Fahey, Guy Ecker and Greg Watanabe.
Like any artist, Nishikawa would love to see great commercial success for the film; not so much to be enriched, but more so people will better understand what was done to Japanese-Americans. In fact, he donates 100 percent of the proceeds from the screenings to the local 100th/442nd Combat Regiment-affiliated group.
Nishikawa’s fondest hope is for the DVD to be made available to G.I.s returning from the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. As a doctor told him, “This film is the most accurate portrayal of post traumatic stress disorder ever put on film.”
Nishikawa feels the film can help these soldiers to understand their feelings, nightmares and disturbed behavior is perfectly normal. That may seem an unusual way to characterize a mental disorder, but more soldiers than not have mental trauma when they return to “peace time.” “It’s a perfectly human reaction to the horrors of war,” Nishikawa said. “What would be worrisome would be for someone who had such a traumatic experience to not be affected by it.”
“Chicken-skin” is a phrase that has become a cliché, but there is no other way to describe what happened when 29 of the surviving members of the 442nd from Maui stood up at the end of the film to be recognized.