I was excited to see this film was in production when I first stumbled across it a few months before it was released. I managed to find it at a local video rental place about three months after it became available on the website and decided to give it a look. Although not perfect, "Only the Brave" presents a story that needs more recognition in this day in age. Especially with so many 442nd vets passing on every day. Although the characters are fictional, they are no less real, with a lot of attention paid to their lives before and after the war. My family was sent to the internment camps after Executive Order 9066 was signed by FDR, and their experiences mirror those of the men in the film. They too lost their jobs, then their property, then their basic freedoms in what is still regarded as one of the largest civil-rights atrocity in the history of the country. Three of my Mother's uncles served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, one of them earning a Bronze Star with Valor Device during the same mission portrayed in the film while serving as a Combat Medic.
A subject I wish they had touched on during the film was the degrading 'loyalty tests' that Active Military personal of Japanese Decent were forced to take after Pearl Harbor, as one of the aforementioned uncles was subject to those as a member of the US Army Garrison in Hawaii at the time.
As far as film craft is concerned, the picture is not without it's faults. A few scenes really would have worked better in a stage production then a feature film, and some of the scenes seemed to have an out of place dream-like quality. But all things considered I am simply glad that this film was made in the first place. Obviously a work from the heart for a lot of the actors and crew. Who all, like myself, had a deep personal connection to the story being told.
Hollywood has pointed the spotlight on minorities serving in WWII frequently in the past few years with films such as "Miracle at St. Anna", "Windtalkers", and "The Tuskeegee Airmen", but always seems to overlook the story of the 442nd RCT/100th Battalion (with the exception of the film "Go For Broke" which was released in the 50's). Hopefully 'Only the Brave' will be the first of many more films to highlight the sacrifice and heroism of these men who were told they weren't Americans, then proved their government wrong in the most spectacular way possible.
A subject I wish they had touched on during the film was the degrading 'loyalty tests' that Active Military personal of Japanese Decent were forced to take after Pearl Harbor, as one of the aforementioned uncles was subject to those as a member of the US Army Garrison in Hawaii at the time.
As far as film craft is concerned, the picture is not without it's faults. A few scenes really would have worked better in a stage production then a feature film, and some of the scenes seemed to have an out of place dream-like quality. But all things considered I am simply glad that this film was made in the first place. Obviously a work from the heart for a lot of the actors and crew. Who all, like myself, had a deep personal connection to the story being told.
Hollywood has pointed the spotlight on minorities serving in WWII frequently in the past few years with films such as "Miracle at St. Anna", "Windtalkers", and "The Tuskeegee Airmen", but always seems to overlook the story of the 442nd RCT/100th Battalion (with the exception of the film "Go For Broke" which was released in the 50's). Hopefully 'Only the Brave' will be the first of many more films to highlight the sacrifice and heroism of these men who were told they weren't Americans, then proved their government wrong in the most spectacular way possible.