Directed by:
Anthony Banua-SimonScreenplay:
Anthony Banua-SimonCinematography:
Anthony Banua-SimonComposer:
Mike CooperCast:
Anthony Banua-Simon, Lex Barker (a.f.), Joan Blackman (a.f.), Mari Blanchard (a.f.), Pierce Brosnan (a.f.), Bing Crosby (a.f.), Beverly Garland (a.f.) (more)Plots(1)
The Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi is seen by many as a paradise of leisure and pristine natural beauty, but these escapist fantasies obscure the colonial displacement, hyperexploitation of workers, and destructive environmental extraction that have actually shaped life on the island for the last 250 years. This illuminating documentary critically examines the island’s history - and the various strategies by which Hollywood has represented it - through four generations of director Anthony Banua-Simon’s family, who first immigrated to Kauaʻi from the Philippines to work on the sugar plantations. Assembled from a diverse array of sources - from Banua-Simon’s observational footage to amateur YouTube travelogues to epic Hollywood musical sequences - Cane Fire offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as “extras” in their own story. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
Lex Barker (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Treasure of Silver Lake (1962)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Apache Gold (1963)
Joan Blackman (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Blue Hawaii (1961)
Shivers (1975)
Good Day for a Hanging (1959)
Mari Blanchard (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Destry (1954)
Twice-Told Tales (1963)
Jungle Heat (1957)
Pierce Brosnan (a.f.)
Ireland
Best movies:
GoldenEye (1995)
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Bing Crosby (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
The Country Girl (1954)
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Birth of the Blues (1941)
Beverly Garland (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
The Desperate Hours (1955)
Where the Red Fern Grows (1974)
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Juanita Hall (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
South Pacific (1958)
Howard Keel (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Deep in My Heart (1954)
Kiss Me Kate (1953)
Show Boat (1951)
John Kerr (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
Columbo (1971) (series)
Tea and Sympathy (1956)
Glenn Langan (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
99 River Street (1953)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Suzanna Leigh (a.f.)
UK
Best movies:
Tom Thumb (1958)
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
Mona Maris (a.f.)
Argentina
Best movies:
The Death Kiss (1932)
Yvette Mimieux (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
The Mercenaries (1968)
The Time Machine (1960)
Toys in the Attic (1963)
Ricardo Montalban (a.f.)
Mexico
Best movies:
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
The Reluctant Saint (1962)
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Julie Parrish (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)
Boeing, Boeing (1965)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
Nancy Walters (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Horrible Horror (1986) - a.f.
Blue Hawaii (1961)
Monster on the Campus (1958)
Lois Weber (a.f.)
USA
James Westerfield (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
On the Waterfront (1954)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
The Proud Rebel (1958)
Esther Williams (a.f.)
USA
Best movies:
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)
A Guy Named Joe (1943)
Ziegfeld Follies (1945)