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.
