Molokai: The Story of Father Damien

We rented the movie this evening after spending today touring the tip of Molokai, Hawaii where this story took place. The movie is an excellent supplement for the tour. Richard Marks, our tour guide, did not tell us that he appears in many scenes throughout the movie. He is the tall man who has his feet wrapped in cloth in many scenes. He told us that the movie existed and some background stories about the movie.

Anyone wishing to tour this beautiful site should make sure, in advance, that Richard will be their guide. He is an excellent guide and also one of the people who has Hansen's Disease. He is 72 years old (2002) and a dynamic person.

I knew nothing of Father Damien until I saw this movie, but after seeing it I immediately sought more information on him. I strongly recommend this movie for those who are curious about the saint or have a special devotion to him.

This was an almost unrealistically ambitious co-production between Belgium and a whole bunch of other countries, but the many different sources of interference don't hurt the finished product as much as I thought it would. More funding brings more supplies, and that shows. Paul Cox may not be a particularly skilled director, but his country does appear to have a lot of money so it evens out. The visual style to this movie looks really professional, sometimes it'll give you a made for TV-vibe, but that will just be a sporadic feel. The screenplay has some pacing problems, but that doesn't mean it's slow. It just keeps randomly changing in pace, which isn't nearly as exciting as you'd think. There are bunches of scenes where there's nothing happening, but when father Damien ends up contracting leprosy, the movie suddenly looks like it's sick of itself and just takes every possible shortcut to the ending. I do like that very last line though, as corny as it may be, and it is very corny. The biggest plus this movie has is the performance by David Wenham. Hiring an Australian guy to play Damien sounds like the worst idea ever, but he's really authentic. He's pretty much why I kept watching. This movie is fairly well-made, but there's room for improvement.

This is a surprisingly intimate look at some of Father Damien's experiences, but the dramatic structure of the film is often frustratingly fragmented.

Scenes of the authorities on O'ahu struggling with how to deal with the amazing man and his demands on behalf of his community seem to have been shot very hastily, and they fit poorly with the more carefully conceived segments from Moloka'i. Even there, the scenes with Peter O'Toole seem poorly integrated into the progression of the story.

Despite the participation of many top-flight actors and actual local victims of Hansen's disease, this film offers only fleeting, tantalizing glimpses of what could have been a tremendously powerful drama of the life of a man who may yet become an actual saint. In isolation, the leading performances are very fine, but the package failed to gel and the film is, finally, only a carefully-drawn series of vignettes.

I saw this in a film festival just yesterday. It was not really the sort of film I would go to normally (I'm not really into religious themes in film). I already knew a little of Father Damien's story, and I had a fair idea of how the story would end but I was glad I saw it just the same. I wouldn't say I "enjoyed" it because the subject matter was in many ways depressing but in a way it was an inspiring story. It showed what one man can do to improve the lives of 1000-odd suffering people that the rest of the world has all but forgotten. Damien had a will of iron and he needed it to counter the resistance of the government and his superiors in getting the help he needed.

If this sort of theme appeals to you I'm sure you will appreciate the film, if you definitely don't like religious themes then it's probably better that you don't see it.