Short Takes : Parker Hopes Film Rings True

Director Alan Parker says it’s necessary that Japanese-Americans enjoy his film “Come See the Paradise,” a film about interracial love and Japanese detention camps during World War II.

“If I’m honest with you, it’s important for (Japanese-Americans) to like it,” said Parker, known for tackling sensitive topics, such as civil rights in his film “Mississippi Burning.”

In “Come See the Paradise,” Dennis Quaid stars as a militant union organizer who falls in love with a 19-year-old Japanese-American woman portrayed by Tamlyn Tomita. The movie deals with their relationship and with the internment of Japanese-Americans in a desert camp.

“It’s important that you see I didn’t cheat. I might not get it right, as you might not with any film, but from the point of view where my heart is, you can’t but see that my heart is with that (Japanese) family. Not a day went by that I didn’t agonize that I got it right,” Parker said.

Parker, 46, whose films also include “Midnight Express” and “Angel Heart,” was criticized for “Mississippi Burning” for what was described as revisionist myth-making. The movie got seven Oscar nominations, however.