Film inspired by rape of Okinawa girl by U.S. troops

[unhappycamper]

Okinawa-born actress Erika stars in “The First Breath of Tengan Rei,” a new movie loosely based on the rape and kidnapping of a 12-year-old girl by two Marines and a sailor in 1995.

Film inspired by rape of Okinawa girl by U.S. troops
By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, December 14, 2008

"Never let them forget."

That’s the tagline for "The First Breath of Tengan Rei," a new independent film that focuses on an Okinawa woman who travels to Chicago to confront two Marines who abducted, raped and left her for dead a decade ago.

And if the story line sounds familiar, it should. The directors loosely based some of the plot on a 1995 incident that gained international notoriety and drew thousands of anti-base protesters to the streets.

In that case, two Marines and a Navy corpsman from Camp Hansen abducted a 12-year-old schoolgirl from the main street in Kin and took her to a beach — her hands tied and her eyes and mouth duct-taped shut — where she was beaten and raped.

Two of the men were sentenced to seven years and the third to 6½ years of hard labor in a Japanese prison.

Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59390