Teahouse of the August Moon

From Zanecorpwiki

Summary

This is a great film satirizing the American occupation of Okinawa and our arrogant belief in our own cultural superiority. The film was subsequently nominated for a Golden Globe for the promotion of international understanding. Kind of ironic that one of the main characters is played by Marlon Brando in the Okinawan equivalent of black face.

Details and Nodes

If you can get past the low key racism, the film has a lot going for it. At the risk of sounding racist myself, Brando apparently spent two month preparing for the part and does a credible job as far as it goes. The movie would still have been better with an actual Okinawan had played the part of the translator but the movie was made when it was made, and is what it is: an adaptation of an American novel by an American playwright starring two American actors about how much we can learn from the simple Okinawan folk.

Patronizing? Racist? In some ways, but also a sweet film with its heart in the right place. Talking about the film is much more complicated than the film itself.