Rapa Nui (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Rapa Nui


caption =
writer = Kevin Reynolds,
Tim Rose Price
starring = Jason Scott Lee,
Esai Morales,
Sandrine Holt
director = Kevin Reynolds
editing = Peter Boyle
producer = Kevin Costner,
Jim Wilson
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = 14 April 1994
runtime = 107 min
language = English
budget = ~ US$20,000,000
imdb_id = 0110944

"Rapa Nui" is a 1994 film directed by Kevin Reynolds. It is produced by Kevin Costner and Barrie M. Osborne, among others. The plot is based on Rapanui legends of Easter Island, Chile, in particular the race for the Sooty Tern's egg in the Birdman Cult. The historic details are questionable. The central theme - the destruction of the island's irreplaceable forests - is well authenticated.

Main cast

*Jason Scott Lee – Noro
*Esai Morales – Make
*Sandrine Holt – Ramana
*Eru Potaka-Dewes – Ariki-mau
*Gordon Hatfield – Riro

Plot

Inter-tribal rivalry leads to a competition to erect a Moai in record time before Noro can take part in the race to retrieve the egg. The reward for winning this race is to rule the island for one year.

Historical accuracy issues

The film can be considered a condensed history of the collapse of the Easter Island civilisation, for example the tribe cut down all of the remaining trees to move the Moai to its site. In the end Noro and Ramana attempt to flee the island in the last canoe.

The plot mixes elements of two periods - the era of huge statues (Moai) and the later Birdman Cult. If the conflict between the Long Ears and the Short Ears was real, then it was over long before the Birdman Cult began.

The name "Rapa Nui", commonly used, may not have been the original native name; that may have been "Te Pito te Henua", the Navel of the World, though there are alternatives. [Easter Island: Early Witnesses [http://www.rongorongo.org/thomson/453.html] ] See also Easter Island's section on the name.

ee also

* Easter Island, also known as "Rapa Nui"
* Moai, the Easter Island Statues
* Tangata manu, the Birdman cult
* Collapse, by Jared Diamond, which details the historic deforestation of Easter Island along with other accounts of how societies collapse or succeed.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0110944|title=Rapa Nui