the cats of mirikitani

I've just returned home from seeing "The Cats of Mirikitani" at the Vancouver International Film Centre on Seymour at Davie. I tell you this because I expect you to go see it before it finishes on the 22nd. It is one of the most hopeful, inspiring films I've seen in a long time and is such an amazing lesson in compassion and understanding.

My friend Justin told me about this film in the fall. From what he described, I was instantly interested in the film, just because it sounded so intriguing. His mentor/friend Roger Shimomura took him to the opening in New York because Roger is in the film and is a friend of Jimmy Mirikitani's, the Mirikitani in the film's title. Since the opening Justin has been visiting Jimmy on a weekly basis, so I had a special incentive to see more about the people he speaks of.

The director, Linda Hattendorf, looks like such an amazing person. As soon as I got home from the screening I sent her an email. I don't expect a response, but felt compelled to draw parallels between my mother's past and Jimmy's, though his has much more sorrow and loss than my mother's. I wish she could see it because she is so reluctant to talk about her life in the Old Country and I hope she would be able to talk more openly.

My grandparents, every time I see them, talk non-stop about the time before and during WWII. For years I tried to get them to talk and they wouldn't. Now it seems as though they need to get it all out at once. My sister visited them this fall for their 70th anniversary and had never heard them speak about anything so much before. I think, in that time, it was the first time she really understood our grandparents and the reason for the years of hardness. I worry they will soften too much before I can get back to talk to them more.

Back to the initial point: go see this film. Please. It will make your heart cry, yet will fill you up with warming comfort and hope. Everyone can use a little hope.