Browse > Point-of-View > Interviews with Nisei men and their descendants
1 articles
Armed with Language (film)
- Films and Video
- Grades 9-12, Adult
- Documentary
- Heroism – real and perceived, Role of men, Vulnerability of the strong, War – glory, necessity, pain, tragedy
- Widely available
Documentary film on the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and about Nisei in the MIS in general. Written and narrated by writer and poet David Mura, Armed with Language , begins with the forced removal and incarceration of West Coast Japanese Americans and the dilemma of the men who volunteered for the MIS despite their or their families' incarceration. The film uses interviews with MIS veterans and their families along with military historians to tell the story of the language school and of the MIS soldiers in the Pacific, highlighting stories of Merrill's Marauders, Nisei women in the MIS, and Nisei in the occupation of Japan. There is also a brief segment on resettlement and the growth of the Japanese American community in the Twin Cities as well as on the Redress movement and relevance of the story today.