Hawaii (DVD)
APPROX. 161 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1966 - MPA RATING: NR
" Hawaii was an enjoyable '7' for the first two-thirds, but the herky-jerky last third drags it down.
Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.
One word pretty much says it all: Michener.
Devoted fans of the author already know what they're going to get when they see one of James Michener's single-word titles: a sprawling saga about a single place, from the time that the Earth's crust was still shifting and evolving in prehistoric times, through periods of early settlement and conflict, to the less colorful but more complex contemporary history. Michener covers it all, like a timeless beat reporter whose fascination with a place can become contagious.
He did it with "Centennial," which told the story of a town in Colorado, and he did it with "Chesapeake," "Texas," "Alaska," "Poland," "Caribbean," and "Iberia." But he did it first with "Hawaii" in 1960, 13 years after he won the Pulitzer Prize for a collection of short stories that inspired the musical "South Pacific."
The 1966 film version of "Hawaii" originally weighed in at 189 minutes, then it was whittled down to 171 minutes for television, and now it seems to have been pared even more for the DVD release, at 161 minutes. Purists will scream we want ALL the sprawl, and who can blame them? Though the DVD print still captures the sweeping feel of a Michener novel and upholds the tradition of Hollywood epics as visual feasts, there are moments (particularly in the last third) that feel excessively choppy. And yet there are other moments when the film starts to feel a bit plodding, as if even more could have been left on the cutting-room floor. As it is, "Hawaii" only deals with Part III of Michener's novel, focusing on the story of the first wave of missionaries to travel to Hawaii in the 1800s, following in the wake of lust-minded sailors and whalers (another part spawned "The Hawaiians").
From the moment we first see Calvinist hopefuls applying to be sent overseas, it's assume the missionary position, because evangelism gets the pat-down "suspect" treatment throughout the film—and deservedly so. At its worst, the missionary movement was a cultural steamroller, a force as destructive and full of self-interest as imperialism. Max von Sydow plays the uptight and self-righteous Rev. Abner Hale with the all the flair of a Shakespearian tragic hero—more misunderstood than genuinely evil. But as the captain chides, when Rev. Hale rains fire and brimstone on the crew, "To an ignorant man, the Bible can be a terrifying book." Those words never sink in, because Rev. Hale continues in his rock-jawed stubbornness, so bullish on trying to win converts that he doesn't care what china he breaks in the process. And by the middle of the film, he's positively Dickensian, as annoying as a stove-pipe hatted hatemonger can be.
When the missionaries first arrive—by the way, pay close attention to the seasick passengers en route, because Bette Midler makes an uncredited appearance—they get an eyeful. But Rev. Hale is as put off by the bare-breasted beauties that swim out to greet their ship as John Ashcroft was by the nude statue of Justice personified in the Department of Justice—and just as eager to cover them up. But the veins in Hale's head practically pop out when he learns that incest is practiced among the Lahaina, Maui islanders, including the queen and her brother/husband.
Leave it to Mary Poppins and Maria von Trapp to show what proselytizing should be like. As Jerusha, a woman so full of Christ that she opts for an arranged marriage just to accompany her reverend husband to Hawaii, Julie Andrews turns in an understated performance that's strong and winning, preferring the God of Mercy and Love to her husband's God of Vengeance—though the most likable character by far is Queen Malama.
"Hawaii" received nine Academy Award nominations—including cinematography, costume design, special visual effects, score, song, and sound. But the film only earned one nomination for acting, and that was for Jocelyn LaGarde's robust portrayal of the Hawaiian queen, a monarch every bit as fascinating and complex as Yul Brynner's King of Siam. Amazingly, the Tahitian knew no English and learned her lines phonetically. But she's such a dynamic character that when the focus shifts at the two-thirds mark, the film becomes far less interesting. No amount of windstorms, firestorms, or plagues can compete with this robust force of nature for our attentions. And when Andrews takes her leave, leaving us with her stick-up-his-whatever husband, it almost seems an act of cruelty.
