While director Anthony Banua-Simon uses the revelation as a sort of “gotcha” moment to end his documentary Cane Fire, hearing Kauai-native Larry Rivera—an entertainer who performed at the Coco Palms before it was destroyed in a hurricane, who rubbed elbows with the likes of Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby—admit the only “Hawaiian legends” he knows are the ones his former boss Grace Guslander fabricated to awe tourists isn’t really a surprise. He and co-writer Michael Vass set the table for that truth too well throughout their deep dive into the island’s colonial legacy, separating allies from exploiters and ancestors from opportunists. That doesn’t make Rivera a villain. It simply shows the insidiousness of the systematic destruction and appropriation of Hawaiian culture and land.
We’re transported back to the origins of the Hawaii we know as the 50th state of America. Captain Cook arrives, white plantation owners follow,...
We’re transported back to the origins of the Hawaii we know as the 50th state of America. Captain Cook arrives, white plantation owners follow,...
- 5/17/2022
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
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