LBC - Pidgin: Voice of Hawaii Movie

Even though the auditorium was packed (literally only standing room or sitting in aisles) I also thought the movie was really great! The film was produced by both Marlene Booth and the recently passed influential Hawaiian Studies professor, Kanalu Young. (Ka Leo article about Kanalu) When Kanalu expressed that "without pidgin, I would cease to feel whole", Marlene began this documentary of pidgin instead of a documentary about the Hawaiian language revival. The movie explains that Kanalu's strong identification with pidgin is a common senitment felt by the pidgin speaking community, as it was often said to be "the language of the heart". Here is a YouTube video with Kanalu if you're interested in knowing more about him. Here is a link to a website that has some of Kanalu's academic papers.

What I really liked about the movie is that it showed multiple views of pidgin in people's everyday lives: people on front porches, getting shave ice, being out near the beach in Waianae, etc. The movie definitely brought more personality to pidgin and it told people's stories with pictures and hearing them speak. They also had really fun intervening segments where the would explain certain commonly used pidgin words so that made it also entertaining. The movie give a good variety of perspectives and delineates the plantation history of how pidgin evolved and the advantages and also stigmas with speaking pidgin (although people strongly identify with it they have been told to be ashamed of using it).

Lee Tonouchi is interviewed in the movie and it has a couple of his music video which are all really entertaining. He is "one guy dedicated to promoting da powah of Pidgin as one legitimate language and as one literature." (Here is a YouTube video of his 7 Deadly Local Sins) The movie made a really good point: that once you view pidgin as a language, it has more meaning and value. Tonouchi also brought a lot of humor to the film as well. For example, it showed a clip of his wedding ceremony in pidgin; when the priest got to the part where he asks Lee if he will take her to be his wife he says "Shoots. I like chance 'em" instead of "I do."

The movie also mentions "Da Hawaii Pidgin Bible" or "Da Jesus Book"where 2 ministers are translating the whole bible into pidgin. They explained that they felt it make the word of God more understandable or speak to them more. Here is an example of their translation esus tell dem, “Da stuff I teach, no come from me. Come from da One who wen send me. If anybody like do wat God like um fo do, dey goin know if da stuff I teaching come from God, o if ony come from my own head." (John Tell Bout Jesus 7:16-17) If you want to know more about this project see their link here.