Customer Reviews

Hawaii

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I own the VHS widescreen version of Hawaii. This is the uncut version with I think about 180 minutes. The film truly brings to life the characters in the first part of Michener's novels. Self-righteous missionary Abner Hale (Max von Sydow) is like I pictured him when I read the book. Julie Andrews also does a good job as wife Jerusha.

I am a native of Hawai'i, and I can suspend disbelief when looking at these fictional missionaries. Abner may be stereotyped, but he does come out as multi-dimensional and able to change over time. This helps to make him believable.

The second part of the novel was made into The Hawaiians, starring Charlton Heston, Geraldine Chaplin, Tina Chen and Mako. This film is more believable in some ways. Chen and Mako depict the Chinese immigrant couple in an authentic way. This film is often shown on TV, but it has NEVER been on commercial VHS, not to mention DVD.

I am waiting for DVD editions of both Hawaii and The Hawaiians: in a nice boxed set if possible. And I think the novel has enough material for one or two or three more films. But that is not as much a priority as trying to get DVDs of the ones already made.

"Hawaii" is a sprawling and episodic retelling of the mammoth book by James Michener. It is the story of the early Congregationalist missionaries to the Hawaiian islands. It is a story of fundamentalist intolerance, greed, abuse of power, yet is also a story of love, mercy and forgiveness. The beginning of the film is a bit uneven, but once the ship reaches the islands, all's well with the movie. Jocelyn LaGarde as the Malama, the Hawaiian matriarch is the cast standout. She is natural, funny and heartbreaking. I would count this film as one of the great religious movies of all time, since it deals with true dilemmas of faith: how religious faith can foster intolerance and contempt of others, and how missionaries must first accept their people as people, and not see them as potential converts. The last scene with the student and Max Von Sydow is a tear-jerker, and a great example of God's providential nature at work. The score by Elmer Bernstein is memorable as well.

This epic video points out the idiocy of some missionaries that they have to take away a person's heritage to save their souls.

George Roy Hill's "Hawaii" (actually,like "Gone With The Wind", it was completed by several directors)is a splendid example of Hollywood epic narrative at its best.That it is so much less well known than the rather soggy "Dr.Zhivago", done the previous year, is incomprehensible, except perhaps as a testament to the truth of P.T. Barnum's famous comment about American popular taste. This comparison is particularly apt, because "Hawaii" has a great deal more to say about American verve and energy -- both its laudable desire to improve the world, and its darker tendency to dominate it -- than the David Lean film has to tell us about the Russian Revolution.Max von Sydow is nothing short of transcendent as Reverend Abner Hale, who has to rank as the least likable or approachable hero ever to inhabit the center of an American epic film. (Scarlett O'Hara, with her husband-stealing and attempted fornication, was a piker next to a man who denies spiritual comfort to a sailor who just saved a ship from wrecking,and who prays for the death of a new-born baby because it was "conceived in sin".)Sydow accomplishes something almost impossible, something that Nathaniel Hawthorne,that great poet of the Puritan tradition, would have understood perfectly: showing how a narrow, humorless man, motivated by pure righteousness,can do great harm AND great good at the same time. The fervor that leads Hale to cruelly demand the end of the incestuous -- and utterly loving -- marriage of Malama and Keoki Kanakoa is the SAME force that leads him to teach the Hawaiian people to read, to save unwanted babies from being put to death,and to protect the rights of the Hawaiian people to their lands.(How the devil did the Academy miss this performance when selecting the Best Actor nominees for 1966?)I might add that this is a lesson in the complexity of cultural imperialism which is especially needed right now, when the U.S. is preparing to remake the world in its image by force with an intensity that might have given even those New England mission folk pause.
The rest of the cast is equally superb.Julie Andrews, as Hale's wife Jerusha, manages to convey the strength of a woman who finds the loving qualities in a man who seems to lack them with a sweet sincerity that has no whiff of feminism-avant-la-lettre about it. Jocelyne La Garde as the Alii Nui (Queen)of Maui, Malama, is so lovable that you FEEL her eventual death as you would that of a dear friend.Even the smaller parts, such as Torin Thatcher as the mission director and Gene Hackman as the courageous, humanistic missionary John Whipple, are memorable.
This film also has some really lovely images and line readings in it.The sight of Mrs.Hale's worn face as she looks wordlessly down the country road after her son as he leaves for Hawaii, knowing that she will never see him again,is like an Andrew Wyeth painting.The transition of looks on Sydow's face at the end, when he meets the adult man whom Jerusha saved from death as a baby -- calling her to come out of the house, and then gradually remembering, through his mental fog, that the beloved wife he is calling has been dead for years -- is like a miniature recapitulation of the entire story we have just seen.But my favorite moment is the one where the mission representative asks Hale how he can bear to stay on as an old man in Lahaina "without friends".Sydow looks at him, with the ageless wisdom of an Old Testament prophet,and says: "In this place I have known God, and Jerusha Bromley,and Ruth Malama Kanakoa; and beyond that a man has no need of friends." Anyone who can stay dry-eyed through that line is made of sterner stuff than I.
A treasure of a film , not to be missed.

I was totally amazed by this film. I had only briefly heard it mentioned before I bought my copy. The scenery is breathtaking, and the acting superb. Although it was nominated for many Academy Awards, it sadly did not receive any. It is a striking tribute to the history of the Hawaiian people. Very, very educational for teenagers or adults.

THIS IS A VERY GOOD ATTEMPT AT JAMES MICHENER'S NOVEL. THE CAST
SELECTION WAS WONDERFUL. THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH THE MOVIE IS THAT
IT WAS NOT COMPLETE. TO COMPLETE THE NOVEL AS IT SHOULD BE WOULD
PROBABLY INVOLVE A MINI-SERIES OR AT LEAST ANOTHER TWO TAPE MOVIE. THE MOVIE GOES BY THE BOOK BETTER AND MORE CLOSELY THAN
I THOUGHT IT WOULD. SOME SECTIONS ARE LEFT OUT, BUT THAT IS
UNDERSTANDABLE, MAKING THE MOVIE JUST LONG ENOUGH TO KEEP ONE'S
ATTENTION. I WISH SOMEONE WOULD TAKE UP WHERE THIS MOVIE LEFT OFF AND FINISH THE ENTIRE NOVEL. I FEEL IT IS OWED TO MICHNER.
IT IS MOST CERTAINLY A MOVIE TO BUY ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK. IT IS A SHAME IT WAS NOT DONE LIKE CENTENNIAL.....

One needs to transcend stereotypical mindsets to appreciate fully the depth and the brilliance of this movie. Events in the movie have unexpected finishes, not overly dramatized, with no particular story line (the randomness of real life), and consistently so. All the actors including Julie Andrews look very natural with none of that big star poise and charm and this further adds an aura of reality to the movie. I am not surprised this was not a big hit in Hollywood. But those who can appreaciate this movie will surely find it unique.

I read & watch everything I can find on Hawaii, and I love this movie. Missionary Abner's mistaken Christian zeal contrasts with the true Christianity of his wife Jerusha (Julie Andrews) as they to minister to the Hawaiians. The movie fails however to bring out the fact that the missionaries brought much good to Hawaii, & they helped bring order to a place that was being exploited by whalers, sailors, and other visitors of the early 1800's. The other early Hawaiian vistors traded ships & merchandise to the chiefs for huge amounts of sandalwood which they ordered the farmers to collect, & the farmers then couldn't grow taro, or fish for food, & began to suffer from hunger as well as disease brought by their guests. These early visitors observed none of the Hawaiian taboos, which devastated the Hawaiian concept of their own gods & left them rudderless. The missionaries were the one element that consciously tried to bring good to the Hawaiians, even if they made mistakes. Anyone interested in Hawaii or the history of Hawaii should see this movie, but be aware of its shortcomings. I still love it for the music, scenery, and because I so appreciate the character of Jerusha, played by Julie Andrews. I still give it 5 stars.

A MOVING AND HEART RENDERING ACCOUNT OF HOW TRYING TO HELP SOME ONE CAN BACKFIRE THEY DESTROY A WAY OF LIFE THAT HAD BEEN SIMPLE AND INNOCENT. PEOPLE WERE MADE TO BE VIOLENT AND SELF-CONSCIENCE. INVADING THEIR HOME S AND BRINGING DISEASES THAT KILLED HALF THE POPULATION OF THIS ISLAND PARADISE.