Matador Pictures, Island Film Group, Trailblazer Films, Screen East
Q’Orianka Kilcher, Barry Pepper, Will Patton, Shaun Evans, Jimmy Yuill, Julian Glover, Tamzin Merchant, Catherine Steadman, Kainoa Kilcher
This is a true story, based on the last ruler of the nation of Hawaii. The US stole the country back before the turn of the 20th century, and President Clinton send a formal apology during the 90’s. Officially Hawaii was annexec, but since it was not an agreement between two nations, but all one sided, then it doesn’t really mean it was annexed.
Princess Kaiulani was the child of a Hawaiian mother and a Scottish father. Her mother was sister of the King. This is the story of her youth, and according to the excellent documentary included on the DVD, is pretty much a true story. Some of the facts, they said, were smushed together for convenience, but esentially this is what happened. They have a rather intense love story in the film that may or may not have happened the way they described. There is some evidence that some of it may have happened, but for the most part that is the weaker portion of the history, but makes a better story.
The Princess was schooled in the Brittish Isles and then returned as she began her 20’s to her land just in time to watch it being swallowed by the Americans. She had a vigorous and exciting, but very, very short life. It ends tragically, but this story is told of her beginnings and dwells on the wonderful parts more than the tough parts. The scenery in Hawaii is absolutely breathtaking. Honolulu had electric lights long before most of Europe, and the place was very advanced for the late 1800’s. The level of literacy was much higher than most other places.
I really enjoyed wathing this film. Like I said the cinematography was exceptional, and it was a very beautiful story. I know a lot of people thought it was dull and boring, but I didn’t find it that way. I thought it was excellently done. And as I mentioned before, if you watch the DVD, the documentary of the real Princess Kaiulani in the special features is also excellent.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Movie Review - Princess Kaiulani (2009) {PG},
