4/5 History Lesson
  by jadecrayon (Utah, USA)
A well done portrayal of a pivotal time in the history of the United States. American Pastime reveals a portion of what life was like for the Japanese-Americans incarcerated in Relocation Camps. Tasteful in showing the hardships and challenges that faced families living in camps, it was true that for some, baseball and other sports are what saved their sanity. Also accurate is the fact that there were some people from Hawai'i that were sent to Topaz, the prejudice they faced, and the heavy loss of life suffered by the Go For Broke 442nd.

I was one of the extras in this movie and having done a three-year project developing lesson plans on Topaz for the Japanese-American National Museum, I can tell you that the director and producer were careful to remain as true to details as possible. Included in the many extras, were people who were actually incarcerated. They said the set was so well-done that if they didn't know better, they would have thought they were back in camp again.

4/5 Recounting a sad chapter in American history
  by BT River (Northern CA USA)
This film is not without flaw, but to me those flaws do not reduce the significance of the story it tells. American families under suspicion of being traitors, given ten days to settle their affairs and transported under guard to desolate places to live out much of the War. The internees struggle to make their living conditions better against the prejudice of some of the locals and their guards. An interracial love story arises amid all this - both fathers dead set against the relationship, while the mothers are more circumspect. A classic story. Baseball becomes the vehicle for understanding (at least for some).

A flaw - Somehow I think that the life story of the Japanese father should have been made a more prominent part of the film. Other than one conversation about his childhood and how baseball improved his life, we have almost no information about him. Though I like Gary Cole, I didn't think his character should have a larger role than Masatoshi Nakamura, Lyle's father. Not a major flaw - As one other commenter has mentioned, two of the actors playing Japanese American roles were not Japanese American. It's a little like having major Chinese American characters in a movie played by Japanese Americans (oops, that's been done before in Flower Drum Song!)


4/5 Connection to Farewell to Manzanar
  by Mrs. Pininia (Armagh, PA)
I am a high school English teacher and used this DVD to reinforce content from the novel Farewell to Manzanar. It was a good video but there were a few spots that you might want to fast forward through because of language or sexual reference. Teachers. always make sure you preview and catch those things!

5/5 American Pastime and the Japanese Internment
  by Cecilia Walker (Lompoc, CA USA)
I am a teacher and teach a unit on tolerance to 8th graders. This movie was the perfect compliment to our reading Journey to Topaz and the study of how the human spirit can rise above all hardship!

2/5 Propoganda and Moral Absolutes
  by MJN76 (Chicago, IL, USA)
"American Pastime" could have been an excellent film, but it fails utterly in character development.

The white people are virtually always bigoted, ignorant, and arrogant.

The Japanese are virtually always friendly, resourceful, courageous despite their circumstances.

The writers were less interested in character development and much more interested in presenting a highly slanted and biased portrayal of the War's impact on the psyche of America. This is unfortunate because they had ample material to write an excellent story. Sadly, the film spirals into a highly cliched and predictable ending.