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CNN Saturday Morning News
Pearl Harbor Documentary Revives Historical Moment
Aired May 26, 2001 - 08:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hollywood's blockbuster movie about Pearl Harbor opens this weekend amid fears from Asian-American groups that the film could stir anti-Asian sentiment. A prominent Japanese- American says he thinks the movie makers did a good job. U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta says the movie heightens the passions of patriotism rather than instilling hatred of fear about Asian-Americans. Documentary filmmakers working without a Hollywood budget have unearthed some new footage of a critical moment in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
CNN's Rusty Dornin has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): While audiences across the country get the Hollywood version, an audience near San Francisco got a glimpse of the real thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then I said hey, buddy, this is the real McCoy. It's the Japs.
DORNIN: "Pearl Harbor: The Real Story," a documentary, premiered this week. In the audience were 25 who can vouch for its voracity.
JOHN RAUSCHKOLB, PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR: John Rauschkolb, USS West Virginia, the greatest battleship.
MICHAEL STECZ, PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR: Michael Stecz, the USS Oklahoma BB37.
DORNIN: The film, produced by a pair of California prison guards, Scott Freund and Tim Chabani (ph) takes the audience aboard the Japanese carriers pre-launch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Make final preparation for takeoff.
DORNIN: Then shows 16 frames of film until now undiscovered in the National Archives.
SCOTT FREUND, FILMMAKER: It's a film from a Japanese plane and it's just a few seconds after the Arizona's initial explosion.
DORNIN: Also never seen before, a glimpse of the commander of the Japanese air force, Mitsuo Pacheta (ph).
FREUND: And I thought oh my god, that's him. And I said I've never seen him on any motion film.
DORNIN: The film highlights devastation on the other Hawaiian military bases. Carol Walker was at Wheeler Air Force Base.
CARROLL WALKER, PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR: The first bomb fell approximately 50 feet from where I was standing.
DORNIN: Michael Stecz was on the USS Oklahoma.
STECZ: I had to go through this porthole because that's the only place I could escape.
DORNIN: For Stecz, this film deserves the real credit.
STECZ: You know, I think it gives a better story of the real thing that happened other than a romanticism.
DORNIN: For John Rauschkolb, who was aboard the USS West Virginia, the film reopened wounds.
RAUSCHKOLB: I didn't want to see it again. I lived it once.
DORNIN: The filmmakers say they have no idea whether they will recoup the $50,000 cost.
FREUND: It's not about money. It was about meeting these guys. It was the greatest honor in the world.
DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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