The year: 1951. The place: a fictional island called San Piedro, just north of Puget Sound. The Event: Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune), an American-born man of Japanese descent, is on trial for murder. In this small town, the Caucasian and Japanese-American populations had lived in harmony for years until the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor and The U.S. government removed half of the towns population to internment camps. Kazuo was a decorated war hero in the US military, but despite his ranking and valor, he is stigmatized as a "Jap" and faces long odds in the racially polarized town. Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke), a local newspaper reporter, has come across a piece of evidence that may help Kazuo. But Ishmael's past links him to Kazuo's wife Hatsue Miyamoto (Youki Koudo), whom he loved as a child in a forbidden romance. Ishmael (not to be confused with the one of Moby Dick fame) goes through an internal debate throughout the trial whether to reveal the truth and help save Hatsue's husband or keep his mouth shut and try to get Hatsue for himself.

Plot: This films script is an adaptation of David Guterson's novel of the same name, written by Scott Hicks (Shine) and Ron Bass (Memoirs of Geisha, Entrapment, Stepmom, What Dreams May Come, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, My Best Friend's Wedding, Dangerous Minds, Waiting to Exhale, The Joy Luck Club, and Rain Man). I'll admit it I've never read the book, but this movie is showing the same scars of any book to film. What takes pages and pages of complex thought and explanation for character development in a book seems merely happenstance when explained in the context of a two-hour film. For example, we know that Ishmael's character is morally astute, but the movie fails to portray just how difficult it is for him to help absolve Kazuo from guilt. On the plus side, the movie approaches the subject of prejudice from a relatively unbiased perspective. Both sides of the argument are given their chance. With all of the three hour+ movies this is a film that could have used that extra time. ***(out of five)

Acting: Ethan Hawke (The Newton Boys, Great Expectations, Gattaca, Reality Bites, Alive, White Fang, Dead Poets Society, and Explorers) usually comes off cold and distant and this film is no exception. Luckily for Hawke his character is supposed to be cold and distant. Ishmael Chambers has had so many terrible experiences in his life he simply doesn't care about anything, but his lost love and Hawke plays it beautifully. But, the true gem is actor Max von Sydow (What Dreams May Come, Hostile Waters, Judge Dredd, Jerusalem, Citizen X, Needful Things, Dune, Never Say Never Again, Dreamscape, Flash Gordon(1980), etc.) who plays Kazuo's attorney. This is one of the few movies in which the audience will like a lawyer. ***(out of five)

Directing: Director Scott Hicks(Shine) is without a doubt a wizard of painterly imagery. Every shot in this movie has a picturesque feel. If this was an artistic film that would be enough, unfortunately it is not. The biggest directing problem in the film is it's abrupt change in timeframe through poorly executed flashbacks. More than once in this film it takes the audience a few moments to realize the story has warped back ten years, then ahead five, then back twenty, and finally back to present time. This sort of time-shifting wouldn't have been a problem if it didn't happen every ten minutes. The problem of the flashbacks resides mostly in the script, but the directing doesn't help these poorly written sections. It isn't "Shine". ***(out of five)

Music: The music is this films saving grace. James Newton Howard (Mumford, The Sixth Sense, Stir of Echoes, Runaway Bride, A Perfect Murder, The Postman, Liar Liar, Dante's Peak, Space Jam, Primal Fear, Waterworld, Outbreak, theme music to "ER", and The Fugitive) creates the perfect score for this film. The whole movie drips with Newton's Williams-esque sound, with a sprinkle of Asian instrumentation. The film is smoothly integrated in to the picture there is never a moment when the audience feels pulled out of the illusionary world. Every sound, from bassoon to wind chime, accentuates the entire film. *****(out of five)

Special Effects: The special effects behemoth, ILM, Industrial Light and Magic (Every Star Wars film and 161 other films. You name a big effects movie, ILM has touched it), and Sony Pictures Imageworks (Starship Troopers, Star Trek: Insurrection, Virtuosity, Anaconda, Johnny Mnemonic, The Postman, Stuart Little, Godzilla, The Big Hit, City of Angels, and Contact) riddle this film with my second favorite type of effect, the invisible effect. From the wide shots of a nonexistent city to the extended view of the Japanese internment camp, these two effects veterans pull it off with class. ****(out of five)

Bottom Line: This films biggest flaw is it is trying to fit too big of a story in to too short a time period. Although worth a viewing this movie should be on most people's rental lists. The price of admission won't be worth it for some viewers. If you have read the novel, then definitely see the movie and tell me how it compares. If you feel the need to see a lighter drama (read: still not funny) then this may be worth your time. But, the casual movie goer should pass over this film for another drama like Magnolia. ***1/2 (out of five)