Representing Home: Showing Life on Guam through Film

Can anybody go to a place and say they can represent it and show it to the rest of the world? That's what happened a few years ago in a little island in the Pacific called Guam. Film makers from the U.S. wanted to go and be the first to make a movie on the island and show it to the rest of the world. A movie named Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon. Did they achieve their goal? Well, the fact is the movie flopped. Not much of the world has seen the film. But the people of Guam did, and they did not like it. Not only was it a bad movie, but it also was a bad representation of Guam. Instead of showing what Guam really is, it came out looking like stuff from a "Welcome to Guam" tourist video. But a new possibility is on the horizon. Two film makers, Don and Kel Muna, brothers and natives of Guam, are finishing up a film they shot called Shiro's Head: The Legend. And the advantage they have over Max Havoc is that they're locals. By being from Guam, they can better represent it, because they can show the people, the life, as it is from a first hand perspective, and share it with the world.

Max Havoc's attempts at showing Guam involved shots of beaches, hotels, and landmarks of the island. They wanted to take a story and make it take place in Guam. They were just taking advantage of the scenery. Even the local people in the movie only had small parts. The main characters in the story were not from Guam, only visitors. One of the characters in the story that was "from" Guam was played by Carmen Electra. Sorry to any that are fans of her, but she is definitely not a local girl. The result of all of this? Guam was just a background for a run of the mill action movie. And, sorry to say, the movie was bad, very bad. I was there when they had a big screening of it on Guam, so I can say that it was bad with confidence. (And the big screening was on TV, not a theater. Yet another sign of how bad it was.)

The Muna brothers are taking a much different route. Sure, it is a story that takes place in Guam. But unlike Max Havoc, this film is Guam. The actors are all from Guam; they are 100 percent locals. The lives of the characters they play are that of people from the island. The result is actors from Guam, playing people from Guam, taking place in Guam. The result? Guam. What the Muna brothers have done is gone out and given a much more accurate portrayal of the island, no matter what the story is. It will give a more genuine experience of what it means to live on Guam, and be from Guam, than any movie out so far. Although the film is not yet finished, I have seen the teaser trailer, and even in that little teaser I saw more of what is Guam than I saw in all of Max Havoc.

The film makers that made Max Havoc were not from Guam, and so they can't entirely be blamed for not showing all of what makes the island what it is. Guam made for a good location for their movie and they wanted to use it. But this goes to show that if somebody wishes to show someplace to the world and is not from there, the picture painted will not be the best one. But that's why there are film makers out there like the Muna brothers. They come from the island, and they know the island, and so they can create a painting of the island that can do it justice. They know all the little nuances of island life, the little things that cannot be found in a tour guide of Guam. With that knowledge, they can show it to people and give everyone a better idea of what Guam really is, and who the people really are.

What this comes down to is a matter of, "if you want to get things right, you gotta do it yourself." Who knows better about a place and can best show it to others than someone native to that place? Where Max Havoc failed in doing so, Shiro's Head can succeed. It's not possible to say how the movie will do in theaters as it hasn't been completed yet, but one thing is for sure. It will show a much more accurate representation of what Guam is to the rest of the world. The Muna brothers are natives of Guam, proud of their island, and they love it so much that they want to see it shown to others the right way. They want people to see Guam for what it really is, and not as how a failed action movie would show it.

In this digital age, anyone can be a film maker. All they need to do is pick up a camera and they can instantly start making movies. With an opportunity like this, people need to go out and share life, and their home with others. It's a great way for cultures to interact and learn from each other. This doesn't just apply to people from Guam. Everyone can be a part of it, and in the process the world can come much closer together. To all those that want to be film makers, go out there and start making movies. Share something new with the world.