Rapa Nui

Hidden gem.

Really good one of the earliest perspective based on the writings as far as if the original people are represented it lacks on that part but good telling of the story. Fills in alot of questions

Mythic tale of what life might have been like for the inhabitants of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) long before the coming of the white man. 'Rapa Nui' means, "navel of the world," a concept found at the basis of every archaic, shamanistic based society. Rapa Nui is a tale of young love fighting against the political, religious and social constraints of life at "the center." (SPOILER ALERT!) Noro (Jason Scott Lee) is a long-ear, a member of the tribal upperclass and the Grandson of the tribal chief. He is in love with Ramana (Sandrine Holt), a short-ear and member of the lowerclass of laborers responsible for the carving of the monolithic statues required by the religious elite.The chief agrees to let his grandson break the taboo and marry his true love if he enters and wins a yearly intertribal competition which would bestow upon the chief the coveted "Birdman' title for the eighteenth time. It's a dangerous endeavor and he would be competing against many who would do whatever it takes to win. He will also be competing against Make (Esai Morales) his childhood friend who must win, or die. He agrees to his Grandfather's conditions and enters the race. Thus the adventure begins.While the great day of competition approaches the aging, mentally degenerating chief dreams of a destiny of sailing away on the great white spirit canoe to the "Home of the Gods." When a giant iceberg appears in the bay at the very moment the competition ends he believes his day has arrived and has his warriors canoe him out to the ice block. As he floats away to his death he calls out to those who refused to join him, "What did you think salvation would look like?Wonderful movie that is virtually unknown in the U.S.A., and is only available in a all-region import edition. 'Rapa Nui' has a great cast: Jason Lee Scott, Sandrine Holt (Black Robe), Esai Morales, Anzac Wallace (Utu), Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors) and Cliff Curtis (Whale Rider and Once Were Warriors) are all accomplished actors who have specialized in roles dealing with indigenous cultures. The import disc is great, don't bother to wait for the region 1!

Despite how good this movie is, when it premiered it bombed so hard it was banished to Korea for 25 years. Then eight years later Atanarjuat, an Inuit film, blasted onto the scene and won all the awards. And now we have Moana, which also won the awards. Why was Rapa-Nui such a failure at the time? I think it was because Rapa-Nui was ahead of its time. Back in Ye Olde '90's, movies about Natives starred white people in various shades of brownface perpetuating racist stereotypes. Rapa-Nui, though made by white people (like Moana), starred mostly indigenous Polynesian and Caribbean islanders (again like Moana), and was as historically accurate as the legends the movie was based on would allow (like Atanarjuat). This was simply unthinkable in the 90's. Professional critics could not understand it because it told a story from the perspective of indigenous people: there were no white people to dumb it down for a white audience. Rapanuis were shown in all their glory and degeneracy unapologetically, and white culture hadn't reached a stage where that could be accepted. Eight years later that changed-but it was too late for Rapa-Nui. I guess with the success of Moana Warner Bros. decided to give it another shot. The only bad thing I can say about the dvd is that it doesn't contain the hour-long documentary about how the movie was made-but this still floats on the web, it'll be worth your while to find it.

Right off the bat: this movie is a severely under-rated gem. It combines a great fictional story with real historical accounts (such as the Birdman competition) flavored with Rapa Nui mythology and culture. In between layers and subplots of greed, power struggles and environmentalism. Rapa Nui is a timeless story and one which reminds us that, in any time and place, we are all the same and subject to the same self-created perils.The only problem is that, since the movie tanked in the US, the only DVD's available are made in Korea and the quality of the film makes it look almost like 1970's footage. It's like watching Star Wars in black and white. The original gorgeous cinematography is lost and the entire movie seems like it was shot under overcast weather (which it wasn't). A shame, part of the appeal of this movie was the lushness of the disappearing green and the sea and sky.It is sad that Rapa Nui never got the success and recognition it deserved, it's obvious the writers and creative staff poured their hearts and souls into making it. Sad that its cast (with Jason Scott Lee and Esai Morales playing wonderful leads) didn't get a career bump out of it and that this movie was abandoned by the studio. Thanks for the Korean company for keeping it alive in DVD form but at this point you are better off getting it through instant video from Amazon. The cinematography that is such an instrumental part of Rapa Nui might be shown intact.

HistoricalTrue Base StoryAncient CivilizationEastern Island

I never did get, nor understand why this film went practically direct to video for everyplace other than the USA nor why it had practically no commercial release at all.....It's quite a good film! And yet the DVD was hard to track down and I've bought 3 different editions of it over the years: the pan and scan all region release from Korea, a non-region (for the US) version to get it in the correct screen aspect ratio which I found to be tightly letterboxed, and finally this new release for the US by Warner Brothers Archive. FINALLY. And it's the best looking version I've seen by far. I can at last sit back and enjoy all the cinematography, the scope of the film and the performances. There are so few by Jason Scott Lee, it's always a pleasure to watch his work...and the story is totally engrossing.

Checked thoroughly before ordering that this DVD was an English language one. Unfortunately not. On principle I returned it even though it cost me £4.25 in postage. Several weeks later it was posted back through my letterbox. Dont know why as I couldnt read the label attached - it was in a foreign language. Fortunately Amazon refunded the cost of the DVD and the postage

Bought this as I had just been to Easter Island. Given that, the location shots were good and fun to see. However, the storyline is not riveting nor (not that it matters) historically accurate. The video quality was not the best, but I am more used to Blu-rays these days. However, it was sufficient to keep me watching to the end. In case anyone is bothered about this being a Korean import, it played in English no problem.

The film is well presented and gives a feel for what it must have been like in the early days of Easter Island (in the days before it was named Easter Island). The major problem is that it is in Italian. Whilst is indicated in the small print under product details it is not obvious on looking at the main section. So make sure you want the Italian version or by an English version.

This film is a masterpiece. It has everything right - credible and passionate plot, likeable heroes, a horrible villain, a sweet and cute damsel in distress, great images, really unique place of action, great tragedies and some humour, and also sport rivalry, civil war, religion dilemma and some cannibalism. And a really great ending! So how comes that it didn't have more success? It is beyond my ability to uderstand. At least me I loved it and I will never forget it.

Don't panic that the name of the film isn't in English on the cover - it is an English language version. One of the great underrated films of my era. Always very thought provoking.