Hawaii

Excellent performance by Max Von Sydow as the self-righteous missionary with a narrow vision of redemption and worship. This movie is almost as infuriating as Michenor's novel. You will not believe the horrible changes wrought upon these beautiful natives done with the best intentions. Sad and lovely film.

Hawaii was released in 1966, and was directed by George Roy Hill, it chronicles the journey of Reverend Abner Hale (Max von Sydow) as he moves to the Hawaiian island of Maui in an attempt to bring God to the "heathens." The movie is almost three hours long and covers an extensive and tragic period of time in Hale's life showing how devastating western ideas can be to a functioning non-western society. The highlight of this film is undoubtedly Julie Andrews' performance as the Reverend's loving, accepting wife Jerusha, who suffers greatly because of his inability to love both her and God. Andrews is amazing in this film, I have watched it many times and am more impressed by her every time I see it. Her portrayal of childbirth is the best I have ever seen period. For anyone who still doubts that she can act as well as she could sing, this movie is a must, she is so convincing as Jerusha that you forget she's acting. Max von Sydow is equally as convincing as Reverend Hale so much so that he makes it difficult for many to watch the movie. Overall Hawaii is a wonderful movie, very thought provoking with an importance message, and if you can manage to deal with the infuriating character of Abner Hale, then you will most certainly enjoy it.

While this film is based on part of a novel, so is largely drama, it does begin to tell the story of colonialism & for its time, it does pretty well. Clearly there are lots of aspects of the indigenous people that are revered in this film and the disrespect & savagery by colonial invasion is explored in a simple manner, but explored all the same. There are parts where it starts to turn into a stageshow. I actually think this film would be great to remake, to tell the story of how Hawaii was settled by the Europeans, but this time tell the whole story, the full novel, & the whole truth. The full traditions of the first people, and the gains & losses that the Europeans brought with them.

Bumpy, overlong drama does have magnetic sequences that stay with you. New England reverend (Max von Sydow, who never elicits our interest or compassion) sails to the Hawaiian islands with his wife in 1820 to introduce the natives to Christianity. Soapy plot taken from James A. Michener's book tries to cram too many years into 170 minutes of screen-time. The task of adapting the mammoth bestseller was probably a bad idea right from the start, and the picture is certainly a botch, but I did enjoy Julie Andrews as von Sydow's wife and the early scenes have atmosphere and tension. But Max von Sydow is a real problem: he's so overly-pious he's pathetic, which is probably not the effect hoped for. Look fast for real-life Hawaiian resident Bette Midler on the Eastern ship as it arrives to the island. **1/2 from ****

From choice of cast to quality of production, this powerful story depicts human beings, of radically different cultures, in all our weakness and all of our soaring nobility. We truly must accept the good with the bad.

Even if you hate aspects of history, it doesn't matter. This motion picture is great theater. Humanity is put on display by gifted actors under gifted direction. The script strikes home because it is so spare and poetic.

It is a pity that of the cast members, Jocelyn LaGarde, who is the perfect alii nui--Queen of the Hawaiians--gets such a skimpy bio. Under her name, all we get is that she'd been six feet in height. What a natural actress! What an open smile! What powerful yet benign reality!

Julie Andrews and Max von Sydow stay deep in their characters. The tragedy of cultures' colliding never ends. On a personal level, we get that eternal conflict again, between the classically female value of compassion and the male value of standards--you know...you must earn your father's love.

What is special must be preserved. Nationhood must live. There is much grist for thought in this sweeping drama.