Post by VeeVee on Jan 25, 2009 9:14:27 GMT -5
Got this from Mike Houlahan:
----------------------
Trailer:
www.theinheritanceofwar.com/?page_id=4
www.mormontimes.com/arts_entertainment/movies/?id=5951
Documentary brings alive story of WWII POWs
By J.G. Askar
Deseret News
Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009
OREM, Utah -- "The Inheritance of War" is a compelling documentary that played Friday in Orem at the 8th annual LDS Film Festival. The movie vividly depicts the struggles of a certain class of World War II prisoners of war -- those who fought for the United States on the Philippine Islands.
"Inheritance" hits home with resounding effect as it tells the sobering story of American soldiers who became prisoners of war on April 9, 1942, when the United States surrendered the Philippines to Japan. Those soldiers who survived the Bataan Death March and remained alive for the duration of the war were under Japanese control for more than 40 months; during that time they were compelled to perform forced slave labor for private Japanese companies.
Not only does "Inheritance" record the plight of the POWs during their internment, but it also details their unsuccessful attempts during the past decade to sue for lost wages with compounded interest from the Japanese companies which bullied them into involuntary labor in such backbreaking venues as condemned coal mines and steel mills.
Director Ashley Karras combines war footage culled from the National Archives with several interviews of POW survivors who fought in the Philippine theatre to convey the stark realities and visceral brutality of life as wartime prisoners under Japanese control. Ms. Karras wisely allows the now-elderly former POWs to tell their own tales of internment. Some of the compelling vignettes include one soldie who weighed 180 pounds before the war but dropped all the way to 97 pounds as a POW, and another who had to have his leg amputated without anesthesia after suffering an injury during forced labor in a coal mine. With such emotionally charged content on parade, it's good that Ms. Karras wisely edited the film down to a very-palatable 72 minutes.
For an account of the winding and lengthy litigation process that beginning in 1999 sought to recover damages for the former POWs, Ms. Karras turns to the narration of attorney James W. Parkinson. A member of the charter class of Brigham Young University's law school in 1976, Mr. Parkinson is one of the attorneys who represented the former POWs in their unsuccessful quest to obtain reparations. In addition to being the narrator of "Inheritance," Mr. Parkinson produced the film. Mr. Parkinson's conviction for his clients' cause is convincingly demonstrated by numerous snippets showing him making impassioned presentations to high school students in both California and Utah about the paradox over why his war-hero clients cannot secure so much as an official apology from their Japanese captors.
The most prominently profiled soldier in the film, Harold Poole, attended Friday's screening. Mr. Poole, who received the Silver Star for his wartime valor, is 90 years old and a resident of Holladay, Utah. Following the film's conclusion, the audience honored Mr. Poole with a rousing standing ovation.
"The Inheritance of War" is the film adaptation of "Soldier Slaves," a book Mr. Parkinson co-wrote with Deseret News columnist Lee Benson. Prior to its Orem engagement, "Inheritance" played on Jan. 7 at the Palm Spring International Film Festival.
For more information on this film, visit www.theinheritanceofwar.com
---------------
The Film Festival is held in the Scera Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. Movies will be played up until Saturday evening. More information is available at the Web site, www.ldsfilmfestival.org
More info:
www.theinheritanceofwar.com/downloads/tiow_presskit.pdf
Article:
www.mydesert.com/article/20090107/EVENTS01/901070303/1111/events01
----------------------
Trailer:
www.theinheritanceofwar.com/?page_id=4
www.mormontimes.com/arts_entertainment/movies/?id=5951
Documentary brings alive story of WWII POWs
By J.G. Askar
Deseret News
Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009
OREM, Utah -- "The Inheritance of War" is a compelling documentary that played Friday in Orem at the 8th annual LDS Film Festival. The movie vividly depicts the struggles of a certain class of World War II prisoners of war -- those who fought for the United States on the Philippine Islands.
"Inheritance" hits home with resounding effect as it tells the sobering story of American soldiers who became prisoners of war on April 9, 1942, when the United States surrendered the Philippines to Japan. Those soldiers who survived the Bataan Death March and remained alive for the duration of the war were under Japanese control for more than 40 months; during that time they were compelled to perform forced slave labor for private Japanese companies.
Not only does "Inheritance" record the plight of the POWs during their internment, but it also details their unsuccessful attempts during the past decade to sue for lost wages with compounded interest from the Japanese companies which bullied them into involuntary labor in such backbreaking venues as condemned coal mines and steel mills.
Director Ashley Karras combines war footage culled from the National Archives with several interviews of POW survivors who fought in the Philippine theatre to convey the stark realities and visceral brutality of life as wartime prisoners under Japanese control. Ms. Karras wisely allows the now-elderly former POWs to tell their own tales of internment. Some of the compelling vignettes include one soldie who weighed 180 pounds before the war but dropped all the way to 97 pounds as a POW, and another who had to have his leg amputated without anesthesia after suffering an injury during forced labor in a coal mine. With such emotionally charged content on parade, it's good that Ms. Karras wisely edited the film down to a very-palatable 72 minutes.
For an account of the winding and lengthy litigation process that beginning in 1999 sought to recover damages for the former POWs, Ms. Karras turns to the narration of attorney James W. Parkinson. A member of the charter class of Brigham Young University's law school in 1976, Mr. Parkinson is one of the attorneys who represented the former POWs in their unsuccessful quest to obtain reparations. In addition to being the narrator of "Inheritance," Mr. Parkinson produced the film. Mr. Parkinson's conviction for his clients' cause is convincingly demonstrated by numerous snippets showing him making impassioned presentations to high school students in both California and Utah about the paradox over why his war-hero clients cannot secure so much as an official apology from their Japanese captors.
The most prominently profiled soldier in the film, Harold Poole, attended Friday's screening. Mr. Poole, who received the Silver Star for his wartime valor, is 90 years old and a resident of Holladay, Utah. Following the film's conclusion, the audience honored Mr. Poole with a rousing standing ovation.
"The Inheritance of War" is the film adaptation of "Soldier Slaves," a book Mr. Parkinson co-wrote with Deseret News columnist Lee Benson. Prior to its Orem engagement, "Inheritance" played on Jan. 7 at the Palm Spring International Film Festival.
For more information on this film, visit www.theinheritanceofwar.com
---------------
The Film Festival is held in the Scera Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. Movies will be played up until Saturday evening. More information is available at the Web site, www.ldsfilmfestival.org
More info:
www.theinheritanceofwar.com/downloads/tiow_presskit.pdf
Article:
www.mydesert.com/article/20090107/EVENTS01/901070303/1111/events01