Film: On Paper Wings

Director: Ilana Sol
Runtime: 67 min.

I saw this film last night as part of the Northwest Film Center’s 35th Northwest Film & Video Festival

It’s a documentary about the only World War II casualties to occur on the continental U.S.: in 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb killed five children and their pregnant Sunday school teacher outside of the small town of Bly, Oregon.

It’s something I’d heard about but had filed away in my mind under “World War II trivia,” a mere footnote in a large-scale, global war.

On Paper Wings packs a lot in its relatively short running time, bringing a real, human story into this “minor” incident. It includes extensive interviews: with the women that made these balloon bombs as schoolgirls who at the time did not even think to question their patriotic duty, with the siblings and neighbors of the six people killed by one of their creations, and with the Japanese-American man — interned in Tule Lake during the war — who in 1996 brought them together.

At one point in the film, one of the Japanese women says that because she always thought of the Japanese as victims, she did not feel anything for those six Americans that died in Oregon — until her Japanese-American friend, now a professor in Michigan, wrote her the names and ages of the people that were killed.

I believe this film has that purpose, of telling us why we should care, and illustrating through a story of two small towns the broader implications of war…and peace.

This film is by a local filmmaker and is not in wide release, but go to her website for more information and screening dates.

San Francisco Trip, Part I – Elections Madness

I just got back from a 4-day trip visiting a friend in San Francisco. Lots happened in those 4 days, but as it’s Election Day as I’m writing this, I’ll start with an Elections-theme.

Prop 8 is huge in California. I’m somewhat ashamed to admit I’d somehow completely missed it living up in Oregon, but apparently it’s been in the national spotlight. In case you’ve been living in the same cave I’ve been in, Prop 8 seeks to change the California Constitution to ban gay marriage.

As you might imagine, being in San Francisco days before the Elections was…interesting. There were anti-Prop 8 people on every corner holding signs and giving out stickers and buttons — even in driving rain.

And as it happened, I was in The Castro on Halloween night. Unfortunately, most of my pictures didn’t come out well because the flash on my camera doesn’t work, but this one came out decently due to the good lighting:

The friend I was visiting? Walking around sporting an Obama button and a “No on Prop 8″ button:

What the hell happened to this guy who voted for Bush in 2004 and used to casually drop homophobic comments?

It’s never too late to turn to the light side!

(…and I mean that all as a compliment, John. Thanks for letting me stay at your place!)