Picture Bride

(Kayo Hatta, US/Japan 1995, 35mm, 94 min., English and Japanese w/subtitles)

The advent of photography allowed marriages to be arranged over thousands of miles, resulting in “picture brides”—women who have only an image of their prospective husbands before they travel to their new home. Just after World War I, the orphaned Riyo is arranged in such a way by her aunt and travels to Hawaii to marry her new husband. When she arrives, she discovers that the picture was out of date and her husband is twice her age. Working in the sugar cane fields, the couple try to move forward with their relationship while dealing with prejudice and labor strife.