What does the death of someone really mean as we walk through life? The death of an idea or an ideal brings about great change in our perception of life. The Descendants is another Academy Award nominated film about life and death, but it is predominantly about rebuilding the lives impacted by the decisions we make. The story is set in the beauty of Hawaii and its tropical paradise. Affected is the last pristine island of Kauai. Fighting development to stay true to the ideals of King Kamehameha and the land inherited by a family trust, George Clooney seems out of character as the grieving father of a daughter lost to anger, a dying unfaithful wife, and his youngest daughter who wanders lost. The power of this family dynamic are the vines that keep growth possible. Sometimes it is growth apart, together, or the growth of an idea that anything is possible if one knows the truth.
The irony of this dysfunctional family is the ability to be true to the land which holds the memories of generations. I wondered as this film played how many people would sacrifice millions of dollars today to preserve the connection to a land, a piece of heaven on earth. As I watched an actor find depths of truth in a character whose world had been literally ripped out from under him, the moral of this story is the importance that our history or stories if you will play an integral part in identifying who we are as individuals, families, and societies. My parents met in Hawaii in the 1950's and married on the day the islands became a state, My mother came to a point in her life that she refused to go back, and complained that the commercialism has fouled one of the most beautiful places on earth. She had never been to Kauai while she lived there as a nurse after the war. It was owned and cared for by the natives of the land.
My last boyfriend moved to Hawaii to find a way of life that he could not find in the mainland. My first love lived on Kauai for many years before I met him in Newport Beach, California. This is a place you could live off of the land, caring for yourself and nature and the island, the mother of all well being. For a film to take such a stand gives strength to the idea that we are tied to the land with memories, lessons, and visions in our mind of what it all really is. I have never been to Hawaii or any of the islands. Yet. I have lost two men to the lure of the tropics, a destination for those who want to play but more that want to live in the beauty that is the paradise of Hawaii.
Somehow the bottom line for The Descendants is a simple concept that many people have forgotten the farther their lives take them from the land. There is poverty, crime, and family difficulties no matter where you live. There is homelessness and addiction. No matter where we live, we are connected as a species to the land that has cared for us in spite of our best efforts to screw up the scenery.
My parents married on the big island so in some weird way I am bound to be a descendant of a land I have yet to see or know. My great uncle flew around the world in 1924 as part of the Great Air Race of 1924 and after his aeronautical days were through he settled in Hawaii because of the beauty of a simple people who loved the land and ocean as part of their being. It is my privilege to be part of history, the continuity of beauty unknown in much of the world, without the chocking effects of hotels and resorts.Sometimes the best way to change is to be at peace with the world, needing nothing to change and leave the untouched just that - untouched.
I have boomerangs on my wall that were brought back from lands that only an airplane could reach. A Maori prayer rug hangs on my wall facing my bed. I am connected to the land. The Descendants strongest theme throughout was a value for the land above what wealth might bring. It was refreshing to watch a movie that set greed and wealth aside and valued the tangible, wild, irreplaceable place that was part of continuous family history.
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