MovieChat Forums > Hawaii (1966) Discussion > Do You Buy the Redemption?

Do You Buy the Redemption?

posted 13 years ago by rrreee5656
8 replies | jump to latest

One thing that has stuck with me about this film was that Von Sydow is an arrogant, obnoxious, misguided jackass for 2 1/2 hours, then undergoes an unseen transformation as it jumps forward perhaps 15 years, and when the action resumes he is the most admirable of the missionaries (excepting the late Jerusha) for the last 20 minutes. It struck me that the film is really asking us to take (pardon the pun) a leap of faith on this point, to spend 150 minutes showing us what a graceless jerk Von Sydow is, then presenting him in the redeemed form without even showing any of the transformation. Yet I bought it, because I read him as a sincere but terribly misguided character who finally found his proper orientation when he reevaluates himself after Jerusha's passing. His personality does not change but his once-objectionable qualities are rather inspiring when directed at the right cause.

Hawaii is not a particularly well-remembered or adored film, and there are good reasons for that, but I will always be impressed with the fact that Hill and Von Sydow pulled off such an audacious redemption and I found it wholly believable. I mean in most films they would have started turning him into a decent guy right after the 60-minute mark, and they certainly would have shown some of the metamorphosis. Would you agree, or do you think they were asking a bit too much for the viewer to buy into it?

[–] Fingaroo 13 years ago

I always thought that the the point being made is that Abner has not changed much, if at all. It's Hawaii that has changed, and radically. At the end he remains a deeply flawed man who nonetheless accomplished some profoundly good things precisely because of his flaws--primarily his stubborness and inflexibility--rather than in spite of them.

[–] rrreee5656 12 years ago

His personality does not change but his views of the Hawaiian people certainly do, he is quite racist and utterly contemptuous of their culture for the vast majority of the film. After the jump forward he has learned to respect and embrace their them, the film does not show any of this transformation. It has been a little while since I saw it now, I'm thinking it may be attributable to the great wind after the queen dies (which he would surely take as a sign from God) and Jerusha's advice to him. Still, it is a pretty radical transformation to ask the audience to buy sight unseen 150 minutes in, though as I said I think it does work. I know the book is quite long, 1000+ pages, I wonder if it deals with this in more detail but was cut from the film for length concerns. Credit to Hill for pulling it off well enough, for me at least.

[–] milliedil 12 years ago

For much of the story he is bigot and a racist who is utterly convinced that he has been personally called by God to spread His word and convert any and all. His flaws--myopia, arrogance, intolerance, vaunting superiority, all of them--are enumerated clearly and succinctly by Jerusha near the end of the film; SHE essentially converts HIM and exhorts him to remain in Hawaii to become a true Minister to their needs--with mercy, love and compassion, not fire-and-brimstone. He is never a hypocrite, unlike so many of his fellow evangelists, but it takes her death and its years of lonely aftermath to make of him a man worthy of her loving kindness. It is she who embodies the true spirit of Christianity, and that is what he ultimately becomes, even though it means his children leave him and he is alone in his no-longer-official capacity. We don't need to see a specific moment of conversion or revelation--it wouldn't work anyway if we did--Abner is transformed only through his own sense of deep loss and humility; in short, redemption. I strongly feel it resonates at the end simply because it is not witnessed in any detail at all. The revelation of Jerusha's unseen death is devastating. We only see its effects and we must, ironically, take Abner's eventual redemption on faith.

Thank you, thank you--you're most kind. In fact you're every kind.

[–] angelosdaughter 11 years ago

Abner loves Jerusha deeply, but is incapable of showing it. I think her standing up to him at last and showing him the error of his ways when he was still reeling from the deaths caused by the measles epidemic, a disaster which he blamed himself for calling down on them, Jerusha's death after years of neglect on his part, Hoxworth's beating him upon learning of Jerusha's death, all lead to a realization for Abner. That realization was that his inability to concern himself with anything but prosletyzing cost him a good and loving wife who worked herself to death, as well as the lives of the native people whom he strove to convert, but never loved or saw for the beauty and goodness that was in them. Abner, chastened, finally opened his heart as Jerusha had done to the native people.
I do believe his conversion was sincere.

"..sure you won't change your mind? Why, is there something wrong with the one I have?"

[–] Madeline5 10 years ago

Most of the film was Abner being a jerk and others had to suffer because of it.
In the last 10 minutes, he's a kinder human.

I would have wished to see more of his character's "turning kinder and wiser" in the middle of the film than having it added on "oh, and by the way" Abner's a more decent human being now that everyone is dead.

[–] bastasch8647 10 years ago

Anybody read the book - does the book give Abner a change of heart, and does it explain it? If so, it should probably have been written into the screenplay.

[–] Mikey-Mike 10 years ago

The book continues the story into Abner's old age; he doesn't seem to have a change of heart. As a result of the final beating by Hoxworth (shown in the film) he gets brain-damage, and the local community looks after him, but there are complaints about him disrupting religious services conducted by Chinese and Japanese immigrants to Hawaii, because they are heathen blasphemers and there is only one true God etc.
He also disowns his oldest son because he marries a Hawaiian woman.

[–] RRozsa 10 years ago

Milliedil expressed what I was thinking, perfectly.

Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!