My reaction to the movie "Act of war"

Our first assignment in the class "writing for the new media" ,was to write a reaction to the film we saw in class, "Act of war". It is a documentary about the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The powerful story made me feel sad for the Hawaiian people. Their own traditions have been taken from them by the Americans. It actually made me angry. I learned that the Native Hawaiians are the minority now. They are the poor and uneducated people in their own country. Americans have taken over their land, and most of it was sold to Americans and the British.                                                           

The movie came out in 1991. The technology has developed a lot since then. The movie started off with beautiful pictures of Hawaii. Suddenly it changed to people getting arrested and demonstrating. This made me react instantly. The rest of the movie showed a lot of pictures while different people were telling the story, and some scenes where acted. A modernized version would make it even more engaging, if there had been more acted scenes, Hawaiian music and better quality. But the power of this film did reach out, since Bill Clinton sent an apology letter on behalf of the people of the United States, to the Hawaiian people after watching it. 

The message came across clear. All of the information in the film was new for me, so I got very surprised. I am a tourist in Hawaii, and I think most of us don’t know much about the Hawaiian history. After seeing this movie I want to learn more about Hawaiian history, and make an effort to understand and respect their traditions and culture. I think that is a step in the right direction!

-Karoline Gjermundsen