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Eo Lono <hmawae2004>

"Lono i ka makahiki!!!"

	“NOHO HEWA." COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU!	331 days ago
	NOHO HEWA A Film in Review By Hale Mawae The Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center began to fill with curious viewers from around the Kaua‘i community for a rainy Saturday viewing of a film called Noho Hewa. There was a definite tension in the room as people were aware of the wave of awakening they were about to get with some of the “real” issues that are happening around this so called “State.” There are whispers and talks of inspiration, of rapid change, of forward motion. I can only think about the rainy car ride home. Wondering, what this storm has brought in with it tonight? What kind of thunder will roar? Will the lightning be as bright in the dark night? Metaphorically, this film set the mood, and yes a storm was brewing. The public first got to view this film, that was featured at The Hawaii International Film Festival in 2008. “Noho Hewa” was honored as the Best Documentary at the HIFF 2008 gaining acclaim throughout the international film community. The filmmaker herself shared that she thought the film wasn’t going to acquire as much attention and acknowledgement that it had received and was shocked when they called her name to accept an award. For year’s, the HIFF has honored films throughout the international film community. Primarily showing multimillion dollar budget, independent films of European, American and Asian filmmaker’s. Never having heralded a Hawaiian film like this before. That is until Keala Kelly decided to put her camera where nobody else seemed to want to look. Down the beast of Hawai‘i’s cultural/economic oppression, military occupation, and the actual people who deal with it that really came from the place, the kanaka maoli. “A film about brown people,” as the filmmaker sarcastically mentioned during her short Q&A that followed, “people that look like you and me.” Surprisingly a majority of the audience was white-people, but still they chuckled at her answer. Particularly because of its truth. The film-industry is still surprisingly white-first, ethnic later when it comes to films that are produced today in Hollywood, or from Hollywood money. But to tell a story about the real people of Hawai‘i without the help of Ben Stiller or Pierce Brosnan. Hell, I’ll gladly pay 10 dollars to see that. You know why? Because most movie plots that try and center around Hawai‘i have terrible plots, sloppy love stories, and rip off the island’s cultural beauty for shots of our remarkable scenery for some made up place called Mount Titikaka. You begin to get an idea of the lack of cultural understanding and what a tourist commodity Hawai‘i has become when the only good story Hollywood writer’s can think of to use Hawai’i’s backdrop is to be lost on an island. Didn’t they do that already with Gilligan? And you thought Elvis movies were bad? It is surprising that someone should actually want to film what everyday Hawai‘i looks like. Considering that someone might actually live here long enough to know where to look here for real people. People that pay rent, drive shoddy cars, and barely make enough money to live on the beach under a pop tent and a picnic table. Everyday Hawai‘i if you aren’t trying to score a tan at the beach, or go knick-knack shopping. Or eat out at a fancy restaurant. Or stay in a million dollar time share overlooking Waikiki or Diamond Head. Or go shopping for your bare necessities at Wal-mart over the remains of some 2000 year old ancestral cemetery. From the sound of it, if you aren’t everyday brainwashed American, you might be able to see the film without commercial beer goggles strapped to your skull. But I’m sure if you keep an open mind you’ll like this film anyway. Besides, it’ll be a good uncomfortable laugh when you’re finished. The film paints a gritty scene of blood, guts, and war in Hawai‘i. People fighting and trying to make ends meet in this crazy downslope of our occupied economy. We get to see the rapid military expansion across the entire “State of Hawai‘i” and it’s relationship to rampant development, homelessness, the devastating tourist human footprint, and desecration of major sacred sites(one after another). It focuses slightly on the foundation of the nation of Hawai‘i, but more so on the views of political and social intellectuals fighting to make changes from within the nation of Hawai‘i. Many bright minds in the film share culturally profound thoughts, but leave us hanging to wonder if other’s must be on the verge of discovering themselves with all this knowledge out there. Or is this movement just intellectualized? Which answers the next question when it comes to the other characters we get to witness in the film. Human beings that come at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. The radical kanaka activist screaming, shouting, and holding signs wanting to be heard to those that will listen and the radical oppressor screaming and shouting(not hearing a thing) and telling the kanaka to shut the fuck up. We get a real sense of the ku and of the hina happening here in this struggle. It will leave people wanting to go dig through the remnants of their past, help provide answers for the future, and give questions for the next generation to ponder. Blue pill or the red pill? As Morpheus from the Matrix puts it, “it's your choice.” I don’t know about you, but I’d take the fuckin red pill ANYDAY when it comes to this movie. Our very own picture of Hawai’i. The images and emotion evoked from this film paint pictures with images as answers, but is entirely left for you to accept the facts as word. Fact, that as an occupied military state in a neutral nation of Hawai'i, we are partly responsible for over a million innocent deaths in Iraq. America having heavily armed themselves and weighing down kanaka maoli with military sights locked in on their scope. And when you realize that the damage is real when you see the extent of the bombings that are happening in a beautiful valley like Makua in relationship to a place like Baghdad where they are exercising their war practice. You get the kind of feeling in your gut where you think your Uncle Sam had a shotgun in his closet until you went rifling around and found a trip switch to an entire nuclear missile defense system and silo under his closet instead. You get the full blown, poster picture print, of Hawai‘i. In all its fame and fury. The film opens with a demonstration that lays the mood of the film. A group of kanaka maoli standing with stalks of la‘i(ti-leaf), chanting an intense ‘uwe’ at Makua Valley as armed military, standing guard, only inches away from their line of procession. The sound of their wailing voices brings tears to the eyes with the intensity at which they commence this ho ‘okupu(gift) of their leo(voices). The films progression from that moment on is an emotional roller coaster ride, so intense, that the traumatic events which follow leaves you wanting to stop the ride, get-off, and throw up. Makes you sick to your stomach the kind of crap that people have to put up with here in Hawai‘i. Unfortunately, it’s the truth. Swallow it and stomach it. Even for the average movie goer, I think, “Noho Hewa” is a refreshing film to watch. The average hollywood mumbo-jumbo, let’s face it, just isn’t that fun to watch anymore. It’s entertaining to watch our kupuna picket against a corporate conglomerate retail store digging up their proud ancestors, and in the same moment watch American college kids in Hawai‘i take as much pride in dancing and singing in a banana and strawberry suit to sell smoothies in lieu of the demonstration. Or the crazy white girl with the silly southern accent telling a kanaka to go back to where he came from, that this is America, and he better remember that. Gives you an idea of the kind of respect people have for our culture. Kelly took that image from guerilla filmmaking to the next level by showing the audience that America in all actuality isn’t really Hawai‘i at all. Hawai’i never was and never will be America. And that white-girl just became a poster child on the wall of another rude American trying to force themselves upon the world. Of course, I’ll let you be the judge of that. You meet the characters along the way through the film, and you seem to know them all. And as the film builds intensity you keep asking yourself the question: “how do they fuckin’ deal?” From the very beginning to the very end. Characters that are in such contrast to their environment and the seedy underworld in Hawai‘i. You begin to feel the racing heartbeat of the kanaka in the film. You cry for the mother and daughter singing hymns as they are handcuffed and thrown in the back of a Honolulu Police squad car for being homeless. You stand up for uncle at the burial council who’s about to throw down with a state archaeologist because he lacks the mere respect for the dead or the desecration he caused. You want to scream and yet are silenced by “the wind” in Makua valley that makes the military mess tent collapse during an interview, and the only thing you can think about are those wailing voices of those kanaka at the beginning. As an audience, I think we were hungry. And as a filmmaker, when it comes to this film I think we were well-fed. Keala Kelly has won audiences with her honest approach to storytelling, when she rolls the film, and let’s the story speak for itself. We are fortunate that it could be honest and nakedly revealing behind the true struggles in Hawai‘i. May positive outcomes come forward as people see this film and become aware of the truth. For more information on the film “Noho Hewa,” you can visit www.nohohewa.com. Hale Mawae Eo Lono!
	posted by Eo Lono