Hollywood Whitewash movie Ni'ihau

There will be a movie made about a true incident Zero pilot crash on island of Ni'ihau after pearl harbor attack. It is quite a story over a couple days that could make a good movie.

The Hawaiian Kanahele will be played by a white guy Zach McGowan and will be filmed in Malasia. All of the community on Ni'ihau spoke Hawaiian. This film should be in Hawaii with Hawaiian actors speaking Hawaiian with sub-titles.

The movie Tora Tora Tora was filmed Japanese side in Japan the movie had sub titles. American side in the USA. Much more realistic. It was made 1970.

It's like white guys playing Indians in the older Westerns. Or playing Nazi's with stupid German accents in English. The flics with sub titles and real German are so much better.

The director says they are going for authenticity yeah right.

I get what you're saying, but in all honesty I'm much more interested in how good an actor is, as opposed to the color of their skin. Hamilton anyone? In addition, while I'm good with subtitles, a lot of folks aren't and you drastically limit your audience that way.

In addition, very few people in hawaii actually speak full hawaaiian anymore so you would be limiting the pool of available "actors" to a very small group. Then the odds of getting someone to play the roles well nosedives, and IMHO the story does not get justice.

Keith - just saw from your tag that you live in Hawaii, I'm honestly curious - how often do you hear the full language spoken in a casual conversation? I've never been there but I have been to Ireland, and you seldom hear gaelic spoken there anymore.

What is more important, casting to a racial profile or casting whom you believe may be the best actor for the role?

you went and did it..you had me google Z mcgowan..damn it. never heard of him or his movies. 98% sure i wont watch the film, 2% chance my wife makes me.

but back on topic. hollywood has been doing it for years. and it isnt just hollywood. to this day, i still believe Jesus looks like the lead singer of Alice in Chains.

On the Island of Ni'ihau the community has spoken Hawaiian even to this day. It is true the language was only used in pockets across the Islands in 1941.

Since the Hawaii pride movement that started in the 1970's the language is making a comeback. Some charter Hawaiian schools teach it to students at a young age. They had to get some people from Ni'ihau at first to get it started.

It would not be hard at all to find actors who are fluent. I think French is the best sounding EU language, I love the sound of Hawaiian. A lot of world languages have been all but lost. People would not even understand old English.

I like films from other countries so have no problem with sub titles. Most movies are formula made. Hollywood anything goes, but there have been great films in the mix. This true story has all the makings for a good movie.

And to think french is going the way of the dodo bird...in not long many of these previously rather common languages will only be found in small pockets here and there.

StonedEdge said:

And to think french is going the way of the dodo bird...in not long many of these previously rather common languages will only be found in small pockets here and there.

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Are you talking locally or globally? Because, I can't see French people giving up their language, nor do I think they should. But, it wouldn't bother me, at all, if people in Canada stopped using it.

Globally. Other than France and Quebec in Canada (can you even call that french lol) and some central African and Carribean nations the use of the French language and people claiming french as their mother tongue is on a downwards trend globally. Doesn't bother me either but it's a fact that less people speak French today than in the past as English and other tongues are becoming much, much more prevalent. And french is one of the more successful Latin based languages so imagine how many of the local native languages of all regions of the globe are doing in terms of survival...not pretty.

"Or playing Nazi's with stupid German accents in English"

Just that it has us Germans laughing instead of being offended

It used to bother me the Peter Pan was played by a girl in the play, but she was cute so I got over it.

Das Boat is much better with the english turned off and with the subtitles.

That said I'm not a fan of all this identity politics: Italian American, African American, German American, etc. First generation I get it, but after that not so much.

I think how one's ancestry is viewed, and thus how they are identified by others, varies depending on where in the world you are. Until recently in the US, many willing immigrants did their best to blend in/ homogenize so their kids and grandkids would truly be 'Americans'. I am primarily 3rd generation Italian, yet people overseas characterize me as American. In contrast, my wife was the 3rd generation in a Central Asian country, yet fiercely views herself 100% Russian, as does her brother, and her parents (who were both born in the same Central Asian country). But to them, I am 'American', even though 3 out of 4 of my grandparents came from Italy. And my wife is 'Russian' even though 3 out of 4 of her grandparents immigrated to the Central Asian country. Go figure.

FWIW I had to google the story behind this as I'd never heard of the incident (not surprisingly - this was not well covered in school). Never knew it was the zero pilot crash events that lead to the internment of Japanese Americans.

Kinda answers my question as to why only Japanese loyalty was doubted (no I don't agree with it) when people of German descent were not. Not that they were treated well according to some of the stories my Grandfather, 1st Generation born of German immigrants, told me of his time in the merchant marines.

I will be curious to see how Hollywood portrays the protagonist and antagonist as black and white, or shades of grey.

Bill13 said:

It used to bother me the Peter Pan was played by a girl in the play, but she was cute so I got over it.

Das Boat is much better with the english turned off and with the subtitles.

That said I'm not a fan of all this identity politics: Italian American, African American, German American, etc. First generation I get it, but after that not so much.

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Bill that is one of my favorite movies. I saw it first with dubbed English. Second time uncut version in German with sub titles was better.

In the USA mixed race couples & kids are not uncommon these days. In Hawaii it is almost the norm. If you look at some of those area's in Southern Russia above Mongolia people look like many in Hawaii half Asian & half White.

I dind inconsistency the most difficult. In some cases, it is expected that an ethnic group gets played by people,of that ethnicity, in other cases this is seen as profiling and stereotyping. This wole political correctness thing is sometimes hard to understand.

That said, for something portraying Ni'ihau I agree that it would be appropriate if they spoke Hawaiian. Interesting language btw.

Stefan