Jungle Heat almost did the complete opposite of what the movie Go For Broke did. Whereas we see the patriotism and honor of Japanese American soldiers, in Jungle Heat we are made to see them as "filthy, nasty orientals." Yikes!! This movie was extremely racist, yet telling of the time when it was shown. It gives the message that Hawaii was permeated with saboteurs. As with many movies written about Hawaii, the main characters step off the plane and are greeted with hula dancers and leis. But this time, instead of allowing the audience to accept it as hospitality, we hear the main character utter the words, "It's all an act."
In November of 1941, labor relations negotiator Roger McRae and his wife Ann arrive at the Hawaiian island of Kauai to resolve disputes at sugar plantations owned by his employer. McRae constantly reminds us of the laborers low class status, while the laborers are constantly portrayed as angry workers trying to get rid of the man sent to shape them up. From the beginning, it is made clear that there is an assumption that the laborers are trying to kill McRae, in an attempt to control the powers that be. Blinded by his hatred and racism, McRae fails to see that the person who set all of these attempts up, was someone who he trusted because they were seemingly two of the same kind. The plot has a twist as McRae's wife seems to hold a separate set of beliefs about the value of the lives of the laborers.
The idea of infidelity is a strong theme in this movie. Infidelity of what McRae thought to be a friendship that ended in his death, infidelity of his wife, and infidelity of a soldier whose lover was charged with being a Japanese spy. We end the movie finding out that after all of that racism and blame, the Japanese were not responsible for everything that happened after all. But then....we see the screen flash the date 12/7/41. Hmmm.... The plot was interesting and the movie was full of action. I did enjoy watching it, but at the same time I was frustrated with the abhorrent racism throughout.
I actually enjoyed this movie myself. I agree with you that the plot was relatively interesting, and found the poor portrayal of the locals offensive. While racism is always offensive, it was interesting to see that while the animosity towards the locals (mostly plantation workers) existed as is typical of films in or about Hawaii, I did not expect the animosity between the white male characters. Typical of the time period also is the portrayal of what was/is perceived as masculine in the depictions of the men being aggressive, mistrusting and having power even over each other. While with the woman's portrayal as feminine in being open-minded and caring. Her character is even a nurse. A career typically associated with women. There was many intersections of race, class and gender (even with only two female characters!) in this film.
ReplyDelete