Papa Mau: The Wayfinder (2010)
★★½ — Papa Mau: The Wayfinder (2010)
Nāʻālehu Anthony's documentary, produced through his Honolulu-based company Palikū Documentary Films, centres on Mau Piailug, a master navigator from the Micronesian atoll of Satawal whose traditional wayfinding knowledge, passed down through generations entirely by memory and oral instruction, had no written record to fall back on. The film focuses primarily on the 1976 voyage of the Hōkūleʻa, a reconstructed double-hulled Hawaiian sailing canoe that Mau guided from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti using only stars, ocean swells, and wind patterns, completing a crossing that hadn't been made by traditional navigation in over six centuries. That voyage arrived at a significant cultural moment, coinciding with the broader Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s, a period of renewed interest in indigenous language, art, and identity. Anthony, who has spent much of his career documenting Pacific Island culture, shot the film across Micronesia and Hawaiʻi with a modest, community-focused production.
A-Z World Movie Tour Federated States of Micronesia This is a documentary about a mission set out in the 70s to recreate a traditional Hokoleo(sp) which is a traditional polynesian boat, and navigate from Hawaii to Tahiti using only the stars. The story itself is pretty cool and it is quite interesting, it's just a pretty below par documentary in terms of it's delivery. It's just a series of interviews and a few historical shots. It would have been nice if there was more information rather than just people recounting memories. Still absolutely astounding what people could achieve back then.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2010 | Watched: 2025-06-18
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