User reviews

But even as hawaiian this story was it was barely a mediocre one. if you expect war your lost, if you would like some harakiri then your in. you will also find a whole lot of village around the bonfire talking or walking and not much more than that. there are some fistfights between friends , and foes too. itll may have some appeal for the right wing japanese audiences, because it has some japanese imperialism in its hidden agenda.

the acting are at b and c level, the locations and settings are rather like ''your mama and my mama, sitting by the fire'', and feels like a bunch of locals in a theater company joining forces to tell their part of the islands war history.

the grumpy old man saw it and will attend the haugesund international film festival later today

First, the Niihau Incident is a great dramatic story from WWII, so why mess with it and change things. I'd give the director a pass on the plane crashing into the ocean instead of a field, because I'm sure that dropped the budget a lot (easier to fake in a pool). But, the other changes are rather insulting, primarily because they aren't better or more dramatic than the truth. I guess they wanted make up the actions and motivations of the Japanese so it might balance out some sort of morality tale. Weird.

Second, while the performances and productions weren't bad per se, it came across more as TV quality, rather than cinematic. Some of the dialogue was clunky, simplistic and didn't work.

Meh.

The events in the movie are very slow, that I almost fell asleep. There are also many scenes in Japanese where you can't understand what's happening but you have to guess. And the end is not good. In short, the movie can be shortened to a half an hour instead wasting two hours on such slow movie.

The original events would have made a better story. The most unHawaiian movie about Hawaii. Everything was off. From houses to clothes. Hawaiians didn't hunt boar with long bows and who spears fish that way. What Nisei speaks with a Japanese accent. It would have helped if the film makers did a little research before the filmed.

Sure the movie is slow its not an action movie its full of suspense and drama especially towards the end the last 30 minutes save the movie, you have to be in the right mood to enjoy this film and its not for everyone but its far from being a bad flick.

Totally fictionalized account of the Ni'ihau Incident.

As a World War II historian I've been hoping for years that someone would produce a film about the incident that was the main impetus for incarcerating Japanese Americans living on the West Coast in concentration camps (those living in Hawai'i were not incarcerated, except for a handful who were known to be enemy sympathizers). I didn't even know about this movie until more than three years after it was made; probably because it's garbage and no one wanted to advertise it. I'm not going to take the time to create spoilers and point out everything wrong about this production, but suffice it to say that it's just wrong.

Read the Wiki story about the Niihau Incident before you watch this movie, watch the movie and afterward read the Wiki story again to connect all the dots. Watch the movie again and you'll probably realize it was a good movie.

Some parts of the movie weren't accurate like the plane crashing into the sea instead of in a field. At the end , they had the Japanese pilot stabbing himself. The real story was Ben throwing the Pilot against the wall and his wife knocked him out. Ben slit the pilots throat and killed him. The American Soldiers at the end looked like Eastern Europe Communist soldiers with the odd looking uniforms. I wish they showed a little of the Pearl Harbor Attack in the beginning .

A pretty good movie. I visited Pearl Harbor about a month and a half after the 50th anniversary of the attack. Went out on a Navy Launch and visited the Arizona memorial. Flew over to Kauai and stayed there about 3 nights. Never heard about the Niihau Incident , learned about it watching a documentary about the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

I had no idea that this story existed. While somewhat slower in places, this movie was excellent in showing the conflicted, raw emotions that would have been felt when this occurred. Don't miss out.

This movie is no closer to being based on the Niihau Incident than a Chipotle fart is to telling the tale of Abraham Lincoln.

Don't be making genuine heroes weak by removing their ACTUAL ACTIONS AND MOTIVATIONS and make genuine REAL LIFE VILLAINS sympathetic by giving them fake stories.

An amazing story was RUINED AND WASTED with this film. The filmmakers should be ashamed!

This movie is worse then anything ever made. The story could have been ok, but the acting, dialogue, the scenery, the outfits, it seemed like everything was put together by a child. It even looks like it was shot on video? Horrible. And I'm Hawaiian!!!

One of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. Won't waste many words on this review. I was hoping for some action but fell asleep instead until the last 15 minutes when there was some action.

Movie was well done and photographed even though no one strayed more than 100 yards from the village. It had an abundance of tragedy that pierced the soul because the story was basically true. Made me sad.

I LOVED IT. I am wondering why it doesn't mention it is based on a true story. When I click on the wikipedia link, it uses this title and brings up the title but then changes it to the tv series with a similar name. I can't find any information about the events it is based on outside of the movie.

There are many interesting things to this film, and the most interesting one is the psychology of the cultural clash between friendly islanders and a stranded Japanese pilot shot down on the island after Pearl Harbour. There are some other Japanese on the island also, and when they learn the truth about the pilot they try to keep it down to avoid risks to the island community. They fail to keep it down, the truth comes out, and there is havoc, as too many quite unnecessarily panic, including the poor Japanese pilot, who runs amuck. The one man who tries to keep everything in sensible control is almost a casualty himself.

The film is beautifully photographed, it's a pleasure to share the very basic and primitive life on this secluded island, the actors are all quite convincing especially when they lose control, and the story is fascinating although deeply tragic - all casualties are unnecessary. The war should never have come to this island, no one wanted it there, no one was responsible for bringing it there, and the poor Japanese pilot who brought it there suffered most for it. It is a good film although you would hardly look forward to watching it again.