The Wind and the Reckoning

Set in the aftermath of the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by US land barons and militiamen, The Wind and the Reckoning is a stirring portrait of family life and Indigenous resistance amidst the twin disasters of colonial occupation and a devastating leprosy epidemic.

Having orchestrated the ouster of Queen Lili’uokalani, the new settler government of Hawai’i issues an order that all Native Hawaiians (Kānaka Maoli) suspected of having leprosy be permanently banished to Kalaupapa, a remote colony on the island of Moloka’i. But when a local cowboy named Ko’olau and his young son Kalei contract the dreaded disease, they refuse to allow their family to be separated, sparking an armed clash that will make Ko’olau and his wife Pi’ilani heroes for the ages.

Visceral and visually arresting, The Wind and the Reckoning is based on real-life historical events as told through the memoirs of Pi’ilani herself. It is one of only a small number of films with international distribution to be performed primarily in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (the native Hawaiian language).

In this event, producer and UCSB alumnus Angela Laprete and actor Lindsay Watson (Pi’ilani) will join moderator Tyler Morgenstern (Assistant Director, Carsey-Wolf Center) for a post-screening discussion of The Wind and the Reckoning.