Act of War – The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation

Hearing and continuing to learn about the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy just hurts my heart.

From what I can remember, I started to learn about Hawaiian history in middle school, but it wasn’t until my Junior or Senior year in high school when I actually learned in depth about it. I remember drawing the ‘Iolani Palace for a project with grey skies in the background and somber color tones to represent what a despairing time in Hawaii is was.

Right at the very beginning of the film, when Hawaiian protesters were getting arrested, it reminded me of what was going on with Mauna Kea earlier this year. People who were defending the land in hopes to stop the project were being brought into custody. I may not be Hawaiian by blood, but I feel like I’m somewhat attached to their culture because all I’ve ever known is Hawaii being my home. I have so much respect for these people because of what their culture has been through and how they unite to fight for what they believe in.

Throughout the film, another thing that stood out to me was how Queen Lili’uokalani was just so genuine, wanted everything to be done in peace. She just wanted justice for her people. She was the one that continued to give her people hope, but unfortunately things turned out for the worst.

Towards the end, another part that caught my attention was when they re-enacted Queen Lili’uokalani being on a train and as she was looking at all the land America already owned, she was thinking of why they needed to take what little land Hawaii had to offer. When I heard that, it struck me how true that was and it just goes to show how greedy people can be. Every time I look at a map, it blows my mind how tiny Hawaii is compared to the mainland, but foreigners just had to claim it their own, too.

After watching the Act of War, I feel like this was the first time learning about the overthrow from the Hawaiians’ point of view instead of the Americans’. I enjoyed watching it because they included re-enactments, political cartoons, historic quotes, archival photos and film, and interviews from historians and scholars. With all of these elements, it made it easier to understand what was happening.

One of the styles that stood out to me was how they had voice-over re-enactments for people such as Queen Lili’uokalani, King Kalakaua, James Cook, and other significant people. Since they were talking in first person, it made the film more real to me. It felt as if they were still alive. Another style that stood out was how they showed the statistics and data. For example, of how many people were alive in this year and how much it had declined or increased. I think for data like that, it’s better for the viewers to actually see the numbers instead of just hearing it to give a greater effect.

Overall, I think this film was very well put together and it definitely had an impact on my knowledge about the Hawaiian Monarchy overthrow.

#hpuhpn #mult3360