Jason Scott Lee stars in the independently produced Hawaiian Western.
From John Fusco, screenwriter of Hidalgo, Thunderheart, The Highwaymen, Young Guns and Young Guns II, we now have The Wind & The Reckoning, an award-winning historical drama starring Jason Scott Lee (pictured above), Lindsay Watson, Johnathon Schaech, Ron Yuan, Kahiau Perreira and Henry Ian. Directed by David L. Cunningham (Running for Grace, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising), the indie production is set to open theatrically Friday in Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Waco, Texas, and will be available for rental or purchase June 7 on the film’s website.
The official plot synopsis “1893. The Hawaiian Kingdom has been overthrown by a Western power just as an outbreak of leprosy engulfs the tropical paradise. The new government orders all Native Hawaiians suspected of having the foreign disease banished permanently to a remote colony on the island of Moloka'i that is known as ‘the island of the living grave.’ When a local cowboy named Ko’olau (Jason Scott Lee) and his young son Kalei (Kahiau Perreira) contract the dreaded disease, they refuse to allow their family to be separated, sparking an armed clash with brutal white island authorities that will make Ko’olau and his wife Pi’ilani (Lindsay Marie Anuhea Watson) heroes for the ages. Based on real-life historical events as told through the memoirs of Pi'ilani herself.”
“We shot it during COVID with our own money,” Fusco told C&I. “Kind of unheard of. We shot a Hawaiian Western epic in 17 days for $2 million, 80 percent of it in indigenous Hawaiian language with subtitles, and we've been sweeping all these film festivals.
“CBS News came out and did a story about the making of it, because the cast and crew had to quarantine. We were out in the jungle in Hawaii, and were cut off, really cut off, from everything. There’s no catering truck. You’re eating around a big fire at night and living at a Native Hawaiian spiritual retreat in the jungle. Parker Ranch worked with us with, gave us all their cattle, use of the ranch, real Paniolo Hawaiian cowboys. I’ve had a long career of doing big epic, expensive, and often too expensive movies. It was really refreshing to go do a kind of guerilla independent film that just cut to the bone. No matter what happens, I'm just really proud of it.
“Jason Scott Lee turns in a killer performance, and a lot of native people are in it. It’s a true story that’s been buried for a long time, and it’s doing a lot for the Hawaiian people. We’ve now raised the interest and the money to build a memorial on the island of Molokai for the 800 unmarked graves of Native Hawaiian lepers and those accused of leprosy.
“It’s a labor of love movie. I think what’s going to happen is, it’ll find an audience.”
