Rapa Nui

On Easter Island, the tribes are in a ritualized competition. Every year, each tribe sends a warrior to the Birdman competition to see who will rule the island. Noro (Jason Scott Lee) comes from the ruling tribe 'long ears'. His clueless grandfather chief and his ruthless priest demand larger Moai. He is in love with Ramana (Sandrine Holt) from the tribe 'short ears'. His long time friend Make (Esai Morales) is also in love with Ramana. The demand for Moais has eaten up the resources of the island as scarcities and ecological damage rule.

The problem for this movie is the foreign nature of everything. Some of it is laughable even if it's true. Writer/director Kevin Reynolds needed to be especially careful about the unintended comedy. Maybe it's an impossible task given the strange craziness. The story is a mix of Romeo and Juliet and an environmental documentary. There's none like it.

I have no wish to comment on the historical accuracy or otherwise of this film, as it is the story that held me enthralled, not the attention to fact.

The first time I saw this film, I nearly had to pick my jaw up from the floor. A hollywood movie.....that doesn't spoonfeed me the plot like some overbearing nanny? An original (for a big studio) plot device? Whew, let me just sit down for a minute. Here's how it normally goes: Hero (young, handsome and likeable) must compete with rival (villanous, evil rogue) in contest of high stakes. Guess the outcome. But in this underrated gem of a story, we find two equally heroic protagonists, all thoughts of friendship lost as they are forced into a dangerous competition of courage and strength. One, fighting for the woman he loves, the other for his life. This forces the viewer to watch in an agonized state of uncertainty. Who do I want to win? Who deserves it more? What will happen to the loser? This was the first film in a long time that truly forced me to get involved with the characters, not in a cliched good versus evil kind of way, but a good versus good "how the hell are they going to get out of this one?" kind of way. Okay, so some aspects of the film do not deliver with the same power, and some of the accents do tend to waver a little, but the beautifully constructed central storyline held me until the end.

... and I am very glad I did.

I had not seen the movie prior to going there 6 months ago, for two reasons: people told me it was boring, and when I started watching it, I was bothered by the orangey hue of the movie.

I'm glad that this time I persisted. By no means a classic, it certainly is entertaining, and the actions scenes are genuinely GOOD.

I went to Rapa Nui because I was mesmerized with the idea of an ultra-isolated island where an ecological tragedy happened because of huge stone heads. In fact, I read extensively about the island before visiting it. The reading I recommend the most is Jared Diamond's book "Collapse", which draws from reputable scientific sources and Mr. Diamond's encyclopedic knowledge of geography and biology.

I was hoping to find an island of archaeological interest. What I found was an open-air museum that exceeded all my expectations about archeology, and also a very pleasant and delightful place to visit.

There is no crime. There is no pollution. The only (tiny) beach has white sand and blue water in a perfect temperature. The natives are incredibly nice and even the tourists were interesting (because, really, who goes there?). Now I have a toddler-sized moai in my living room and many wonderful pictures with stones, moai, sunsets, stones, blue sea, volcanoes, moai, and lots of more stones.

And the trees? Around the only town, Hanga Roa, there are many of them! Traumatized with the haunting tale of environment destruction, people are starting to plant crops, and the hotels have beautiful gardens, and the whole town is shady and breezy because of all the trees. It's not all dryness and destruction.

I also believe this movie is underrated. Don't go by the negative interviews! The orangey colors of the movie, though lamentable, don't detract from the overall experience, but if you can find a better copy, by all means do so.

A victim of razzing when new and ever since. However, breathtakingly filmed, especially the brutal tribal competition. One of 4 films (and the most unclad) that Jason Scott Lee made in a short time, and even more athletic than his Bruce Lee biopic, 'Dragon', although dramatically J.S. Lee's most memorable performance was as the Inuit halfbreed Avik in 'Map of the Human Heart.'

Sandrine Holt as his beloved is luminous, while Esai Morales is the villain-- -again. A plot-nudging iceberg is obviously a construct but only a brief story device before it floats away. Sadly, the stateside DVD has been withdrawn, leaving only South Korean copies (in English, however) with some manufacturing glitches fore and aft for collectors unwilling to settle for used merchandise..

Rapa Nui is more than just a bunch of Polynesian (and Hispanic!) actors running around half-nekkid. It's an allegory about the dangers of theocratic government, and a tale of class struggle. Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island, that famous dot in the Pacific Ocean with the mysterious statues. We get to see how these things were carved - and why. The Long Ear tribe has effectively subjugated the Short Ear tribe, forcing them to carve Moai (statues) in order to placate the gods. Director Kevin Reynolds uses the island and the carving of statues as an effective backdrop to illustrate the enmity between the tribes, as well as a power struggle for eventual spremacy of the island. The film is driven by visuals and ideas. The writing hardly ever rises above so-so, and it's jarring to hear Polynesian-looking people with British, American and Latino accents. But the film has a certain power to fascinate, and for that alone I recommend it highly.