Act of War

In the film "Act of War," the first thing that stood out to me was the scene where the lady was saying, "We are not American, we will never be. We will die as Hawaiians." Although the film was outdated, Hawaii was annexed on August 21, 1959. I feel like by the time they produced this film, they should be a little more accepting of Hawaii as part of the mainland. Personally I see myself as an American, even though I've lived in Hawaii my whole life. The people featured in the film felt very strongly about their native culture and history. I very much admired their love for the islands and desire to keep it the way it was, without influence of outsiders. I also thought it was interesting that when Hawaii was annexed it was shown in newspapers throughout the world. I learned that we are strategically placed, which led to the annexation of the islands and the U.S. as a superpower. One thing I disliked about the film was how the foreigners forced ancient Hawaiians to change and give up their traditions. Ancient Hawaiians are known for their amazing use of the land and I think that many foreigners could have learned a lot from them. Hawaii was portrayed as a child compared to America, which I thought was very racist. By watching this film I think it did improve my knowledge of the history of the islands.