Rapa Nui
Tags: historical, murder

Plot synopsis:
There are two classes of people: Long Ears and Short Ears. Long Ears, marked by large wooden plugs in their earlobes and a certain tattoo, are the ruling class. The working-class Short Ears have no ear plugs and a different tattoo. Young men from each Long Ear tribe compete in the annual Birdman Competition. The winner’s tribe gets to rule the island for a year.
Ariki-mau has been the Birdman (Island King) for 20 years. He has a conviction that one day the gods will arrive in a great white canoe and take him to heaven. His advisor tells him to build more and bigger moai statues to curry favor with the gods and encourage them to come sooner. Ariki-mau petulantly rejects the latest statue—which stands over 20 feet tall—as too small. The Short Ear workers are forced to build an even bigger statue in an impossibly short amount of time. The king’s advisor ruthlessly enforces the rules and status quo by publicly killing a Short Ear fisherman who had accidentally caught a taboo fish.
Long Ear Noro (Jason Scott Lee) and Ramana, a Short Ear, are both rejects in their tribes—her father was banished for building an unlucky canoe. Noro’s father stole a canoe and sailed away and is accused of abandoning the tribe. They have a secret relationship and have fallen in love.
Ariki-mau tells Noro that he has to compete in the Birdman Competition so Ariki-mau can continue to rule the island. Noro asks if he can marry Ramana if he wins the Birdman Competition. The king reluctantly agrees. The king’s advisor claims that Ramana's skin is too dark and that she should be purified by spending the time from now until the Birdman Competition (six months) in the "Virgin’s Cave". He checks her virginity and snidely remarks to Noro, who is watching Ramana being lowered to the cave, that she isn’t right for the Virgin’s Cave and that it will be their secret. Ramana takes one last look at the sunset and goes into the cave.
Noro approaches Ramana’s banished father, a canoe maker, and asks him to help him train for the Birdman competition. He initially refuses, because it is Noro’s fault that his daughter is confined to a cave, but later relents and trains Noro. While training Noro he explains that he and Noro's father were great friends once and that he gave the canoe to Noro's father. He further explains that Noro's father sailed away after discovering a piece of a shipwrecked Spanish galleon, thus breaking the long-held belief that Rapa Nui is the only land left with people on the Earth.
Meanwhile, the Short Ears are beginning to starve because the king insists on them working on the new statue instead of growing food but continues taking the full quota of their remaining food for the Long Ears. The resources of the island are being rapidly used up and depleted (with the last remaining tree being cut down), due to the extensive Moai construction and overpopulation. Noro is the only person worried about the resource depletion, but his concerns are dismissed by the increasingly senile Ariki-mau.
Noro sneaks some food to his Short Ear friend Make (Esai Morales) and shares his plans to marry Ramana. Make reacts badly and Noro realizes that Make loves her, too. Make declares that they are no longer friends and runs off. Separately, Noro and Make visit Ramana at her cave, bringing her food and talking to her through the barrier at the mouth of the cave. They both declare their love to her. She always responds, but she sounds despondent.
After a supply shortage results in the death of one of the Short Ears (Heki, the former master carver), they demand half of the wood, food and other materials and that they are allowed to compete in the Birdman Competition. The King's advisor initially refuses and orders their death. However, the King gives in to their demands after realizing that if the Short Ears die no one will build the moai. The King, however, only allows them to compete after the moai has been completed. He makes the condition that if the Short Ear competitor loses he will be sacrificed. Despite these conditions Make accepts the position of the Birdman Competitor on the condition he marries Ramana if he wins. The King agrees and Make spends all his time working and training, leaving no time for sleep or other recreational activities. Meanwhile, work on the great Moai has become so important that the Short Ears sacrifice their food to complete it.
Finally it is the Birdman Competition. Nine competitors must swim to a close-by islet surrounded by pounding surf, climb the cliffs to get an egg from the nest of a sooty tern and bring it back. The first to return wins for his tribe. Noro barely wins and Ariki-mau gets to be the island's ruler for another year.
Ramana is brought from the cave, pale from her long underground stay and very pregnant. Before anything is decided about the fate of Ramana or Make, an iceberg is spotted off the coast. Ariki-mau believes that the iceberg is the great white canoe sent to take him to the gods and goes out to it with some of his followers. After the iceberg has carried Ariki-mau away, the advisor attempts to seize control of the island, but Make kills him and the Short Ears stage a rebellion, slaughtering and even eating the remains of the Long Ears. Noro alone survives, as Make allows him to live, and Noro, Ramana and their baby escape the island in a canoe Ramana’s father built.
An after-movie credit states that archaeological evidence proves that Pitcairn Island was settled some 1,500 miles away, providing hope that Noro, Ramana and their daughter made it to a new land.

Review: This was the first film in a long time that truly forced me to get involved with the characters, not in a cliched good versus evil kind of way, but a good versus good "how the hell are they going to get out of this one?" kind of way.
Okay, so some aspects of the film do not deliver with the same power, and some of the accents do tend to waver a little, but the beautifully constructed central storyline held me until the end..
I am saddened that so few people seem to have seen this film; It is worth watching for the lush photography alone..
It takes some getting used to the accents of the actors, and many lines may not be clear on first viewing.I have read many books about Easter Island and the mystery surrounding its statues..
This film attempts to answer some of these mysteries (how the statues were moved, why work stopped so abruptly on then, what happened to all the trees on the Island, etc.) First read up in an encyclopedia on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and then watch history (or at least a good guess at it) come to life.
Film making and story telling at it's best, along with an athletic competition at the end unlike any you have ever seen..
Was it a lack of promotion the presumably R rating?.I found this to be an excellent film all the characters main and supporting are very intriguing the setting is breathtaking , and the actors all played their roles superbly and with passion.I did not find a problem with the English speaking actors I feel the director wanted to get the point of the movie across without tiring the audience out by having to read subtitles.This is a movie after all not real life, one cant expect things to be exact.This movie is far different then most of what Hollywood churns out the plot is simple as the time the movie takes place the story is very believable and understandable with some historical elements thrown in.
As one watches this film they will come to see that's there's no simple answer to the protagonist problems they will have to take them selves back to that time and place.As far as a love story goes i feel its an epic one easily as touching if not more so then Star Wars or Titanic, Also similar to 10,000 BC.
Rapa Nui is more than just a bunch of Polynesian (and Hispanic!) actors running around half-nekkid.
Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island, that famous dot in the Pacific Ocean with the mysterious statues.
The Long Ear tribe has effectively subjugated the Short Ear tribe, forcing them to carve Moai (statues) in order to placate the gods.
Director Kevin Reynolds uses the island and the carving of statues as an effective backdrop to illustrate the enmity between the tribes, as well as a power struggle for eventual spremacy of the island.
The film was shot on location and despite liberties taken with history, it is an absorbing look at a mysterious culture that has virtually disappeared.1400 years ago, Polynesian seafarers settled on the most remote island on earth, Easter Island or Rapa Nui as they called it.
Although most of what is known about their history is speculation based on archaeological evidence, it seems the island went through an intense period of statue (moai) building, followed by an equally intense period of tearing them down.
To regulate their dwindling resources, the islanders conducted an annual ocean race with the winner's tribe ruling the island for a year under their leader, the Birdman.Kevin Reynolds' movie is about these events.
In fact, every event in the island's history is in the film.
Time compression is one of the major criticisms of the film.The writers constructed a Romeo and Juliet love story around the characters played by Jason Scott Lee, Sandrine Holt, and Esai Morales.
However, these are exceptions; the rest of the script effectively moves the story along and explains why things are happening to this doomed culture.The making and moving of the moai are highlights of the film as is the birdman competition; an event so gruelling that by comparison, a modern triathlon seems about as difficult as an egg-and-spoon race.
A traditional score may have worked but this one is inspired, delivering a sense that time is running out for Rapa Nui.Much bare skin is exposed in the movie and nearly all the women appear topless.
Historical evidence suggests the costume designers got it right, which probably pleased the marketing people who no doubt had an eye on the box office.Rapa Nui offers a very different cinema experience.
The island itself is stunningly beautiful and the film makes good use of this, especially the race at the end which is compelling in its apparent difficulty for the actors.
As well as a love story there is a competitive element, and an explanation about what happened to the island.
If Easter Island interests you this film will entertain.
and I am very glad I did.I had not seen the movie prior to going there 6 months ago, for two reasons: people told me it was boring, and when I started watching it, I was bothered by the orangey hue of the movie.I'm glad that this time I persisted.
I went to Rapa Nui because I was mesmerized with the idea of an ultra-isolated island where an ecological tragedy happened because of huge stone heads.
One of 4 films (and the most unclad) that Jason Scott Lee made in a short time, and even more athletic than his Bruce Lee biopic, 'Dragon', although dramatically J.S. Lee's most memorable performance was as the Inuit halfbreed Avik in 'Map of the Human Heart.' Sandrine Holt as his beloved is luminous, while Esai Morales is the villain-- -again.
Grade B All The Way. I had two actors in here I usually enjoy watching: Jason Scott Lee ("Map of the Human Heart") and Sandrine Holt ("Black Robe").
It had also had beautiful Easter Island scenery and it had a bunch of pretty half-naked women.What's not to like?
I couldn't enjoy the beautiful Holt because she was sent to a cave early on and wasn't seen again until near the end of the film.How people, including one of the few national film critics I like - Michael Medved - could rave about this film is totally mind-boggling.
Like many, I was jolted to hear a bunch of ancient Polynesians sounding like "valley girls" and their boyfriends, but let it pass since at least they were all speaking the same language as they would have been anyway, unlike movies like "Seven Years in Tibet" where Austrians spoke English to Austrians, Tibetans spoke English to Tibetans, and otherwise people who wouldn't have been able to speak with each other all conversing in perfect English...
As for the different accents in Rapa Nui, I assumed it was a way to show class differences (after all, Jason Scott Lee has proved he can handle about any accent): the chief spoke hoity toity British, Lee sounded like a poor little rich boy (which he was in the movie), so it kind of made sense.
And as a great Jason Scott Lee fan, it doesn't matter how well- acted or historically correct or whatever else the movie is or isn't (and by the way I found it completely passable in those senses) as long as we are treated to generous footage of Jason Scott Lee showing off his perfect physique -- and in this movie he nary wears a stitch.
Anyway, to avoid redundancy, I basically agree with the other positive things other reviewers have said about the movie, and believe one reason it didn't do great at the box office was due to its unusual subject matter -- something that John Q Public isn't always great at handling..
I love this movie.Briefly, "Rapa Nui" is the native Polynesian name for Easter Island, and this story is set during a highly speculative, yet resonant, depiction of an end of an era that saw high superstition influence the Long-Ear ruling class to ruthlessly subjugate laborers of the Short-Ear clan for building and erecting ever larger giant stone-carved-statued "Moai" to placate seemingly ambivalent ancestral gods while depleting all their natural resources in the pursuit of this sole aim.
Featuring a great primal adversarial dynamic between Jason Scott Lee and Esai Morales, as former childhood best friends, equally noble but from different social castes - both competing in a breathlessly filmed islandwide triathlon of running/swimming/climbing contested by the various clans to decide who rules them all as "Birdman" overleader - as well as a private wager between the two men for which will win the hand of their lifelong romantic ambition, as personified in the lithely loinclothed Sandrine Holt (at her most naturally rapturious).
"Rapa Nui" is a finely acted, well spun, sweepingly romantic historical epic tragedy with stunningly photographed oceanic vistas, harrowing action sequences, and an incredible ethnic music score from Police drummer Stewart Copeland!
And certainly one I am always pleased to expose more people to.I've heard writer/director Kevin Reynolds subsequently express disappointment with this film.
A new more finely tuned retrospective ought to be commissioned to accompany a long overdue restoration release of this film, assembling original existing behind the scenes promo featuerettes with more candid contemporary interviews.
Classical mythologic hero's journey archetype done to perfection.Sadly, as of the writing of the review, for some fool reason one of 1994's most beautiful films "Rapa Nui" is not readily availible, not attractively so anyway.
So someone in charge please chose to do the right thing and preserve this film properly."Rapa Nui" really is deserving of discovery and reassessment.
This film shows one classic historical example, the deforestation of Easter Island.
What I meant was that the film showed that it was raw human muscle and ingenuity that got the statues built, as opposed to extra-terrestrials or Atlanteans which some fringe theorists believe..
Every year, each tribe sends a warrior to the Birdman competition to see who will rule the island.
Noro (Jason Scott Lee) comes from the ruling tribe 'long ears'.
He is in love with Ramana (Sandrine Holt) from the tribe 'short ears'.
The demand for Moais has eaten up the resources of the island as scarcities and ecological damage rule.The problem for this movie is the foreign nature of everything.
After noting that by the time of the first visits of Europeans to Easter Island in the 18th century the island had been stripped of all its trees, and that some of this lumber would have been used for building, cooking and the like, Ponting continues: "The most demanding requirement (for lumber) of all was the need to move the large number of enormously heavy statues to ceremonial sites around the island.
As a result by 1600 the island was almost completely deforested...."Thus in its broadest outlines the story told here is correct, and there must have been a kind of apocalyptic dread among the more enlightened of the residents, as the island was inexorably denuded.This portrait of a dying society, if done well, would have alone been enough to make Rapa Nui a highly interesting movie.
Lines like this, and "don't bother me, I've got chicken entrails to read", and other idiotic plot twists that would constitute spoilers, dash cold water on this film as the tragic if formulaic reenactment of the final days of a doomed civilization.As others here have said, Easter Island itself is breathtaking; the beauty of the setting is one of the better things about Rapa Nui. And the story had great potential.
Sharon Bolling reviews Rapa-Nui and gives Sandrine Holt FIVE KISSES out of FIVE!!!.
It must be sad to think the story or facts have anything to do with the true pleasure of watching this film.
This film shines for one magic reason: Sandrine Holt, topless.
stupid!!!)  For that reason I have to say I enjoyed Pocahontas more given that she's in that film more (and just as gorgeous!).
My advise is to get Rapa-Nui and as soon as they stick her in the cave, rewind, and watch the first half again..
Okay, there is one love scene, but it's tame by Hollywood standards and it happens early in the film.
This could be a good movie for young people to watch with an adult, if only to see people treating each other normally when their skin is showing.The plot is a bit comic-bookish, but it makes for an easy-to-follow story and good entertainment.
This movie is well worth the viewing if you're into period films with full frontal nudity, even if it means that Roxine Holt's breasts change their shape whenever there's a close-up.
The historical fiction used by this movie try to explain the statues on Easter Island but relies too heavily on the tired theme of the incompetent leader being manipulated by overly ambitious advisors.
Surely, if the people were as technologically advanced as the movie suggests, they may have transcended racism and their bizarre class structure.And yet again we see Jason Scott Lee playing the naive, young aboriginal, a part for which he has been typecast in movies like "Map of the Human Heart."If you enjoy Polynesian scenery, and have a mute button to squelch the pathetic English/Hispanic/American/Canadian accents that vary from character to character, and you can stomach the pointless love story in between graphic scenes of gratuitous frontal nudity through the efforts of beautiful body-doubles, you still won't enjoy this movie..
Noro is the son of the chief of Easter Island, he wants to marry Ramana, but, before, he has to win the Egg Race, a race in which he will risk his life in order to chose who will be the chief during the next year.
To sum up, a long boring film that you should avoid to watch to.
You have to look at this film differently; of course you can not take what is being showed to us as the true history of the easter island, but you also can't look at it as just some failed flick.
Whether long or short ears, whether upper or lower class: To build the statues they most likely used all the little forest they had left...
for starters let me clue some of you in on this, the researchers who study Easter island only have theories as to how these people came to be there, who they were, and how they lived.
one woman said ''this movie gives an in depth look into who these people were, and how and why they built the statues''..i think you might want to make a trip to your local library, use that 5lb hunk of gray matter and read a book instead of believing a so-called ancient legend of history dreampt up by a bunch of crazed american writers and producers.
but in RAPA NUI you can clearly see them [the natives] swimming for fun and surfboarding for christ's sake!In short this ranks up there with all the b******t sterotype pieces of fake ethnic b-movies from ''SHAKA ZULU'' the mini-series to ''KUNG FU''they're all taken from the imaginations of complete gits..
An odd subject of Civil War on Easter Island is the primary focus of "Rapa Nui", a dry and dull would-be love story from director Kevin Reynolds.
The richer and more powerful group wants the poorer citizens to make larger Moai statues (those famous heads that still stand even today) and it becomes clearly evident that this could mean more loss and degradation for those with little say.
The only good thing about this film is the scenery.
Rapa Nui goes somewhere else entirely.
The road less travelled as it were.Set on Easter Island, isolated as it is literally thousands of nautical miles from its nearest neighbour, the movie fleshes out the most pivital time in that islands history, as we understand it from the archeological evidence available.
They settled a small, utterly remote island in the South Pacific and developed a unique, centuries-old way of life known worldwide for creating monumental stone statues to evoke and venerate their ancestors.
There is nothing like their astonishing achievement in the annals of civilization.Writer/director Kevin Reynolds distorts and insults the noble heritage of this island and its proud people with this tawdry epic.
To wit: -There is no archaeological evidence of cannibalism on Easter Island.-The Long Ears and the Short Ears, supposedly separate races or clans, probably never existed, and thus never engaged in genocidal warfare.
Alas, with RAPA NUI, they are still out of luck.It's supposedly a love story, but the heroine is out of sight, shut up in a cave for most of the movie.
But such moral suasion hardly offers a compelling motive for the Short Ears' elective servitude.Rapa Nui's troubles are often regarded as a microcosm for the dangers of reckless exploitation of the environment.
The finder did have to bring it back up the cliff intact, but doing so was not part of the race).Despite being filmed entirely on location, there's a sense of artificiality about the statues.
Makes for a dramatic shot but absurd archaeology.Statues the Short Ears carve in the film look fake, big props lacking the contours and color of the originals.
Styrofoam just doesn't shatter like rock when it hits the ground.Production of this $20 million flop in 1994 has had lasting effects for today's inhabitants of Rapa Nui. The sudden influx of film money into a hardscrabble sheep ranching existence brought about a startling transformation in island life, shifting the entire basis of the economy to tourism with remarkable swiftness.In a rather eerie redux of past ecological disasters, the island's resources now strain to accommodate 90,000 visitors per year.
The standard of living in what was formerly a very sleepy place has improved exponentially.RAPA NUI, this violent, almost sadistic movie that debases the island has, ironically, presumably made it a more livable locale.