The Wind & the Reckoning

The Wind & The Reckoning is the best movie made in Hawaii. It premiered on November 4 at the Bishop Museum as the opening Film of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Film Festival where it received The Made In Hawaii Award For Feature Film. In The Boston Film Festival it took eight awards Including Best Film, Best Screenplay (John Fusco), Best Director (David L. Cunningham), Best Actress (Lindsay Anuhea Watson), Best Cinematography (Scott Lee Mason), Best Story/Best Editing (Kyle Gilbertson), and Best Ensemble Cast. Why it has not been reviewed by any major critics Is a total travesty and a mystery.

It Has a legendary story brought to life, in action, drama, and romance while exploring the plight of the native Hawaiians at the time of the overthrow in 1893 and the cruel roundup of those afflicted by leprosy by unscrupulous bounty hunters

This film tells the story of one of Hawaiis most legendary heroes, Koolau, (the powerful Jason Scott Lee) a late 19th century paniolo (cowboy) whose life on Kauai is upended by the requirement from the coup leaders that all persons with leprosy must be quarantined in Kalaupapa on the Island of Molokai. He decides to resist and plans to escape into the hills and lava tubes. That night, he and his son Kalei (in an extraordinary debut by Kahiau Perreira) are captured and when his employer, Eben Sinclair (the sympathetic Patrick Gilbert) intervenes, a struggle ensues and Koolau kills a deputy sheriff. He flees with his family into the mountains of Kauai and is pursued by the U. S. Army led by Capt. McCabe (the homicidal Henry Ian Cusick) as well as Marshall Hamilton (Jonathan Schaech).

As Koolau, Jason Scott Lee turns in the performance of his career. He is dignified, a loving husband and father, a well thought of employee and a fierce warrior. His calm demeanor is contrasted with his fierce defense of his family and freedom. It is an Oscar worthy performance.

Equally excellent is Lindsay Anuhea Watson as Piilani. Ms Watson, who is a native of Kula, Maui, has only done two films and has one in the can, but her on screen persona is magnetic and her wonder woman warrior is like the mother lion defending her cubs; you would not want to mess with her.

It is a great story, sumptuously told in beautiful cinematography by newcomer Scott Lee Mason, the drone shots are so well done and the action sequences make the audience feel the danger and violence. It has Oscar worthy performances across the board, Jason Scott Lee as magnificent, Koolau, Lindsay Anuhea Watson as the gorgeous, powerful Piilani and a supporting one for Henry Ian Cusick as the angry, drunkard Capt. McCabe. If this movie is not playing where you are, ask your local cinema to get it. It is A REAL SLEEPER. The best film made in Hawaii to date.

PS they do not allow apostrophes or okinas.

This movie is fantastic in so many ways. A brilliant story from dialogue to scenery to acting that focuses on the injustices done to the Hawaiians, through the main character Ko'olau and his family, by the newly formed government and what Hawaiians think about what is being done to them.

The director, who is from Hawai'i, also address, brilliantly I might add, what it is to be haole, which doesn't mean entirely being a white person. I think that was done so well. To the main characters, Westerners are seen as both villain and family (very similar to what it is like today). General McCabe the bounty hunter, who leads his mercenaries, is very much the villain and the type of haole Hawaiians despise. Ignorant, racist, and arrogant, he leads equally as ignorant mercenaries. Then there's Marshall Hitchcock, a locally born white person who is somewhere in the middle, neither good nor bad. He believes what he is doing is correct (forcing lepers to Molokai) regardless that he is conspiring with people who are enemy to the Hawaiians. Ko'olau who was once friends with him even challenges him on this. And then there's Eben Sinclair, a locally born white person, who is family to the main characters and does all he can, even risking his life, to help Ko'olau and his family. And the director brilliantly shows the strong bond between Hawaiians and this type of haole.

There's even dialogue between Ko'olau and his son on this issue of being haole. That the real haole isn't white, but the person with no 'breath' who is not in allegiance with the Hawaiians and their Queen and kingdom. A person that does not respect the laws and customs of Hawai'i and instead imposes their culture onto Hawaiians, including racism and classism, instead of adapting to their ways.

All this is done without the white savior complex we often see in films like this. These haoles are just kind of secondary characters. The director does this while still making Ko'olau the main character and hero, and he does it in a way that makes you focus mostly on Ko'olau and his family.

You walk away from the film angry about what those haoles did to Hawaiians, and understanding how to be good haole.

One hell of a film.

Such a powerful story told with so much love and respect for the Hawaiian culture. Beautifully cinematic. I was so moved by the family and their refusal to sacrifice their togetherness, even in the face of being hunted down like prey. A heart wrenching and eye-opening look at a period of history that I knew very little about, but that had reshaped the course of life for native Hawaiians: when lepers were rounded up and forcibly removed to leper colonies on the island of Moloka'i. I love that the characters spoke in Hawaiian-beautiful authenticity and an invitation for us to experience their culture and their heart. Would definitely recommend watching it-but with tissues!

This is a true story of real Hawaii in 1893 when the Queen and Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown by businessmen. A beautiful story told in the wife's poetry! A family on the run from a Goverment quarantine during a Leprosy pandemic.

I think this is the first film to ever be shot in the whole native Hawaiian language "Olelo Hawaii". It's beautiful.

What I love about this film is that it shows the love, sacrifice, and fight of a family to not be separated by this disease, while still trying to not hate its oppressor. A lot of life lessons to take from this beautiful bio-pic.

Mahalo to all the film makers for telling a Hawaiian story that isn't Hollywoods version of Hawaii.

I watched this film at Hawaii International Film Festival and I was blown away, not only from the movie itself, but with the amazing cast and crew that dedicated so much time to this project and made this on a limited budget. The storytelling was authentic, the cinematography was stunning, and the delivery from the actors performing the poetic 'Olelo Hawai'i (aka Native Hawaiian language. IMDB cannot display the okina and kahako....) was one of the most authentic portrayals of Hawaiian history I have ever seen in cinema. This is based on the true memoir written by Pi'ilani, and some quotes were directly from her storytelling. The world needs to know what really happened to Hawai'i in the 19th century after the overthrow of the Hawaiian government.