This is a story as old as the United States itself. U.S. business interests drive white men into Indigenous lands, where they displace sovereign groups of people and impose their own rule of law. Directed by David L. Cunningham, the documentary drama “The Wind and the Liquidation” tells the true story of a group of Native Hawaiians who resisted government-ordered deportation during an outbreak of leprosy in Hawaii in the late 1800s. The interim government, established after American businessmen overthrew Queen Liliuokalani and dismantled the Kingdom of Hawaii, deported natives suspected of being infected to Moloka’i. Marriage was no longer recognized there, and thousands died and were buried in unmarked graves.
“The Wind & The Reckoning” features Piilani (Lindsey Marie Anuhea Watson), her husband Ko’olau (Jason Scott Lee), and son Kalei (Kahiau Pereira) still together after the latter two. Draw a figure that fights to continue. Infected. She will never get leprosy Piilani says in her narration, “Neither people nor governments can break the bonds of marriage and family.”
Sadly, the film doesn’t have the emotional punch that the subject warrants. “The Wind & The Reckoning” is centered around a shootout between Ko’olau and his soldiers, but you would have liked a sense of the wider world outside of this battle, such as the people and political forces of the leprosy colony. confusion of the times. The story is too self-contained and the characters are too repetitive, making it difficult to immerse yourself in the world despite the goodness of the subject matter.
wind and calculation
Unrated. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. at the theater.
