'What would Hawai'i fade into without me, and what would I fade into without it?'
11 June 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I recall when this movie came out a few years ago, and finally presently got to see it on Netflix streaming movies. Quite a fine movie with an important historical significance. It is inspired by the true story but the disclaimer at the end clearly states that some characters and situations were fabricated for dramatic effect. But the core of the story remains faithful.

Q'orianka Kilcher, still in her teens, stars as Princess Ka'iulani. Her story came during the time that descendants of American missionaries overthrew the Hawai'ian monarchy in 1893, and over the next few years the island nation was annexed by the USA. Not covered in this movie, Hawai'i became the 50th state in 1959.

I was a teenager in 1959 and vaguely remember its becoming a state. As a kid I naturally thought everyone was probably happy about such a thing. As this movie points out it was all a struggle for the native people and Hawai'i was given a formal apology in 1993 by the President of the USA.

Anyway this is a fine movie and Ms Kilcher is lovely as the Princess and portrays her well. Of historical note, the real Princess died only a couple of years later, at the age of 23.
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