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Bookmark this pageMolokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)
Director: Paul Cox
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Quite engrossing and often moving, this impressively mounted historical drama (from the book by Hilde Eynikel) is set in the late-Victorian era. It tells the story of a missionary from Flanders, Father Damien, who dedicated his life to the dying lepers on the colony of Kaluapapa on the Sandwich (now Hawaiian) island of Molokai - 'a place of terror and death,' as Leo McKern's bishop correctly calls it. The starry cast, including Kris Kristofferson as a rancher/admirer, are impressive, but Wenham's Roman Catholic priest is excellent, downplaying the man's awe-inspiring self-sacrifice, tenacity, courage and humanity. Director Cox plays it admirably straight, mostly, allowing the stark oppositions (beauty/ugliness, sacrifice/self-seeking, etc) to speak for themselves, only weakening in the occasional use of emotive music.Author: WH
User reviews of this film
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- lan said...
- Posted on Feb 16 2011 12:41 The movie is everything timout.com portends. The movie isn't interestingly slow. The obstacles father Damien had to overcome dictated the ebb and flow of the movie. If you wanted plain action this is not for you. The individual performances are all strong. And together they make for a very somber and haunting movie. Years earlier I had the fortune to visit Kalaupapa (where the people w/leprosy were sent) and like the movie it is a spiritual and intense experience.
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- LH said...
- Posted on Jan 29 2011 07:19 The headlines show Sam Neil and Peter O'Toole as the lead characters but in fact the person who played Father Damien carried the film. Although it was a moving and beautiful movie, it moved very slowly. Overall I could have missed it.
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Cast & crew
Director: Paul Cox
Producer: Tarsicius Vanhuysse, Griete Lammertyn, Andy Howard
Cast: David Wenham, Kate Ceberano, Derek Jacobi, Peter O'Toole, Kris Kristofferson, Alice Krige, Leo McKern, Sam Neill, Tom Wilkinson full cast
Duration: 108 mins
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