Molokai

Moving Drama about a Servant of God
Molokai is the story of a priest, Father Damien, who chose to spend his life serving in a leper colony. The movie is a heroic story of great compassion and persistence in the face of physical hardship and isolation. Filmed on location on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai, the scenery is gorgeous, and it touches on the history and culture of Hawaii. I found the movie very, very moving, but some may find the conditions of the lepers too depressing to bear.

An Australian, David Wehan plays the role of Damien. Two other actors you may recognize are Kris Kristofferson and Peter O'Toole, who both play lepers. Peter O'Toole, who I never like previously, seems to have really enjoyed his role.

Molokai is one of the more remote Hawaiian Islands. During a leprosy epidemic in Hawaii during the mid-nineteenth century, the government established a peninsula on the island of Molokai as a leper colony. It was chosen because it was so difficult to get to or escape from.

In the movie, there...

A sleeper that will remain in my top 10
When I ordered this DVD I knew a bit about the life of Fr. Damien but nothing about the film. I expected it to be "pleasant fare" but not much better. What a surprise! Molokai is as near to being a perfect film as could ever be made. It is an interesting and inspiring story that is told without any of the over-sentimentality one might expect from a "religious" film. The screenplay is wonderful - absolutely believable and natural dialoge delivered flawlessly. The cinematography is breathtaking and the soundtrack is, well, I'm going to track it down to buy it - a first for me. So much for the technical stuff. Fr. Damien was an extraordinary individual and an ideal priest. The film portrays this with great respect as it does with the Catholic Church in general - another rarity these days! There are at least a dozen scenes that stand out as illustrations of true virtue in practice and from which we can draw inspiration to improve our own characters. This is a...

Powerful and challanging
This biography of Father Damien, the Catholic priest who in 1873 volunteered for service on the Hawaiian leper colony of Molokai. For 15 years Damien ministered nearly single-handedly to the quarantined community, supplying what medication he could procure while struggling against the red tape from organizations (religious and governmental) that would rather have forgotten all about the thousands of people dying in primitive conditions. He won some battles and lost others, finally succumbing to the disease himself in 1888.

The films earnestness led to the who's-who supporting cast (Sam Neill, Derek Jacobi, Peter O'Toole, Leo McKern, Kate Ceberano and Kris Kristofferson), but it is David Wenham who must carry the film as Damien, which he does spectacularly and with a touching humility, but with the spirit to fight for those he serves, in the midst of such conflict. Director Paul Cox was inspired in his choices of choosing scenes to highlight 15 years in a single film not two...

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