Well-meant but ultimately of interest primarily to devout anglers, Richard Imamura and Cory Shiozaki’s self-distributed documentary explores an unusual angle of the disgraceful mass roundup and internment of Japanese-Americans that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The largest number were held at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California’s Owens River Valley outside the Sierra Nevada Mountains. According to this film, a substantial number of the internees were fishermen who realized this was an ideal spot for catching trout.
Barbed wire and armed guards at the camp’s perimeter posed formidable obstacles, and survivors recall how they risked their lives for a taste of freedom outside. Later, with the help of some guards (an elderly one is heard from), sneaking out to nearby lakes for multiday trips was possible.
“The Manzanar Fishing Club’’ has enough interesting footage for perhaps a 15-minute segment of a TV news magazine. Beyond that, my eyes started to glaze over with endless talk about rods, reels and bait.