"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most
intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."
-Charles Darwin

(cut)

Let's see ... humans can adapt to live underwater, on land, in arid regions,
in space, etc. Unless humans run out of energy, I suspect that they will
continue to thrive. If humans *do* run out of energy, look for the cock
roaches and ants to fill in the void.

I can see a bright future...for roaches and ants.

Humans though can live on land for quite a while (maybe 100 years) but
more difficult to live under water or up in space (maybe some months
at most).

The scenarios of destruction can be multiple, but it can most likely
descend into chaos and war due to scarcity of resources and/or
environmental catastrophes and/or injustice. We can see what's to come
by learning from the past...

A Recipe for Disaster?

Easter Island is the perfect precedent of what will happen to the
world--if we don't stop it on time. The most valuable resources are
being diverted into EXTRAVAGANT PROJECTS and WARS, while the REAL
ISSUES--environmental damage, injustice, etc--are ignored. The WATER
WELL IS DRYING UP before our very eyes. A recipe for disaster, I'd
say...

'The little spot of land in the middle of endless sea is more-or-less
in the same situation as our lonely little rock in dark cold universe,
and in the ecologically induced class struggle between "Long Ears" and
"Short Ears" we might see reflection of the escalating conflict
between rich and privileged states of the First World and numerically
increasing yet constantly impoverished multitudes of the Third World.'

RAPA NUI (1994)
reviewed by
Dragan Antulov

The plot of this film is based on the legends and historical
speculations about Easter Island in Southeast Pacific, the most remote
part of the world that was ever settled by human beings. Dutch
explorers, upon discovering those islands in 1722, found impressive
statues but the the local population, made of stone-age cannibalistic
savages, seemed incapable of erecting them. The movie tries to give
the explanation for this by setting the story few decades before the
arrival of Europeans. The island is so far away from the other lands
and that the descendants of Polynesian settlers forgot their roots and
believe that they are the only people in the world. Lack of external
conflicts doesn't mean that there aren't tensions within the community
- the society is divided into two classes based on racial features -
aristocratic "Long Ears" and plebeian "Short Ears". The class and
racial tensions has begun to escalate because of the population
explosion; the island is simply too small to provide the needs for the
people. Old and senile king Ariki-mau (played by Eru Potaka-Dewes) is
less concerned with those problems, because he thinks only of erecting
bigger and bigger statues in order to placate gods. His grandson Naro
(played by Jason Scott Lee) has other things on his mind, since he
fell in love in "Short Ear" girl Ramana (played by Sandirine Holt).
Love that crosses class divide happens in worst of all times, since
"Short Ears" like Make (played by Esai Morales) are less and less
enthusiastic about "Long Ears" rule, which slowly but inevitably paves
the way for brutal civil unrest.

RAPA NUI definitely belongs to the same category as multitude of other
films with strong environmental message, which used to be made during
the zenith of Hollywood's "political correctness" in early to mid
1990s. What distinguishes this film from those films is the manor in
which the message is delivered to the audience. Namely, filmmakers
wisely chose to set the plot in a time before arrival of Europeans,
thus sparing the viewers from "politically correct" cliches of evil
European civilisation destroying the nature. RAPA NUI shows that less
advanced native cultures, which are supposed to be more "in tune" with
the nature, can be equally or even more deadly to the environment than
their modern-day equivalents. What is even more remarkable about this
film is the fact that the whole story can be seen as powerful allegory
about the current state of human civilisation as a whole. The little
spot of land in the middle of endless sea is more-or-less in the same
situation as our lonely little rock in dark cold universe, and in the
ecologically induced class struggle between "Long Ears" and "Short
Ears" we might see reflection of the escalating conflict between rich
and privileged states of the First World and numerically increasing
yet constantly impoverished multitudes of the Third World. Unlike
other films that try to shove the Message down our throats by, RAPA
NUI successfully shows how greed, ignorance and unbalanced approach
towards environment can bring down entire civilisation.

Unfortunately, most of the viewers have to digest this message in the
context of plot, characters and situations that sometimes look too
cliched or simplistic, or simply out of place. One of the examples is
the triathlon scene, which looks like it was added into the film only
to provide some testosterone- filled action in otherwise depressive
movie. The writer and director Kevin Reynolds nevertheless manages to
keep things under control, helped by ethnically diverse and very
capable cast. Despite many flaws, RAPA NUI is a film that can leave a
strong impression on any viewers, and after WTC bombings, when the
future of our world seems so uncertain, this impression is definitely
going to be even stronger.

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