Fifteen hundred years ago a small band
of Polynesian voyagers discovered
...one of the most remote
islands on earth.
And began a mystery
that still endures.
The band and their chief,
Hotu Matu'a,
Settled the lush oasis, and were
lost to the world for the next 1,000 years.
European sailors rediscovered the
island and named it Easter Island.
The Europeans found a barren,
treeless place,
Inhabited by numerous warring clans
And the gigantic stone statues
built over centuries
As a form of ancestor worship.
Hotu Matu'a's descendants called the island
Navel of the World, Rapa Nui.
And centuries of isolation
had convinced them
They were the only people
left on earth.
Still, no one knows why the
statues were so large,
Or why work on them suddenly ceased.
But legend speaks of a terrible
conflict between the clans
A few decades before the Europeans
Noro!
Noro
The Ariki-mau wants to see you.
Well?
- It's hard to say.
- The truth.
I would if I could, but the signs
are neither good nor bad.
- We should look again later.
- I must know when, Tupa.
Try something else.
The smoke.
Yes, Ariki.
Matua tane.
Your cousin Epe, by
My wife Auareipua,
Has fallen while training for
the Birdman competition.
That's his body lying
Before the ahu.
You must take his place.
Me?
It's what the signs command,
According to Tupa.
But I'm not ready yet.
I Know. But there's no one else.
They're all gone,
dead, except you.
So, Noroinia,
The priests of the Miru clan
Invite you to compete for
the first egg.
The first egg at Orongo
When Hotu Matu'a
Sends his birds
In the spring.
Will you swim for me
The Ariki-mau
The reigning Birdman?
Yes.
Tell the other Long Ears
There's no use
Choosing swimmers,
Because Noro will win, making me
Birdman for the 20th year.
It's finished, Ariki-mau.
Will you give your approval?
No.
Build another.
Take the rest of the
day off, Heke.
Ariki.
May I ask,
How does this moai
displease the gods?
It's too small.
Take the ropes.
The ropes.
Bring it down.
Ramana?
Ramana?
Koreto, have you seen Ramana?
Look what I brought her.
You know where she is.
When the morning star
Is two hands above the horizon in
midsummer, that's due west.
They knew the currents far
out at sea?
They'd strip, jump into the water
and feel it with their
Balls.
My father is descended from
Hotu Matu'a's navigator.
He should know.
Why does no one else know?
It's not important to them.
They only think of the moai.
Marry me.
- They'd never allow it.
- Why not?
They won't allow it. Grandfather
must give me something if I compete.
Noro, I'm Short Ear.
I love you.
What about in a year?
When people talk?
They say I just want to be Long Ear.
They say I just want you for this.
Is that true?
I want you for my wife.
- Have you told Make?
- Not yet.
Get up, Short Ear.
- You have six moons.
- Priest, that's impossible!
The last moai took 6 moons.
And it wasn't half as big!
Stop work on all other moai.
But even then
Should I find
Another master carver?
It must be done before the
Birdman competition.
Why?
What was wrong with the last one?
You'll kill us!
How will we move it?
Old man.
Old man!
What is this?
This fish
Is taboo.
It's the Ariki-mau's fish until the next moon.
No one is allowed to
Catch it till then.
These rules are for everyone's benefit.
Aren't they?
Aren't they?
It was in the net with
the other fish.
It was drowned.
I was bringing it to the Ariki-mau.
We'd never eat taboo fish.
- Would kill us.
- Yes. We know that!
You broke a taboo.
Six moons!
What news?
You gave them the plan?
- Yes. They loved the idea.
- Wonderful.
Here's a good man.
They have plenty of food
and... whatever?
- They're all taken care of.
- Good.
The clouds are fast
For this time of year.
Odd.
Did I tell you? I lost three more
teeth. You think
- It means anything?
- You never know.
I think it does. I really do.
He's this close to
Sending for us. If we can just...
...get one of these right.
Matua Tane,
I need to ask you something.
I was thinking,
After the Birdman competition...
...I thought, I'd like to get married.
Of course! Good! Who's the girl?
She's... Short Ear.
What?
She's Short Ear
Put me down!
Are you acting like your father?
Do you want to provoke the gods as he did?
I give you
A chance to make up for his sin,
and you act just like him!
I'm not like him.
Then what is this talk?
A Short Ear
You want me not to swim for you?
The bones say you must.
No one else can atone for
your father's sin.
That's why the White Canoe
Has not been sent.
Nineteen springs,
nineteen winners...
What else could it be?
Except the statues.
What's her name?
- Ramana.
- Haoa's...
...Daughter?!
The canoe builder?
The one I banished?!
Why must you marry her?
Can't you just take her
and be done with it?
I love her, Matua Tane.
All right.
Let me talk to the priest.
There is a way.
Tupa will explain.
This is most unusual and
taboo, as you know.
But, if you win...
...the gods may be placated if
the girl has been purified.
How?
Entering the cave of he White Virgins.
Her skin is
- Too dark.
- For how long?
Till the Birdman race.
That's six moons!
Yes it is.
She could die in there.
Possibly.
I can't let her
Do that.
I can't risk angering Hotu Matu'a.
Not when we're this close.
How badly does she want to be your wife?
Good. Then it's settled.
I've been thinking, Tupa...
The Arikis grandson shouldn't
steal chickens.
- Especially mine.
- Don't the old stories say
That Hotu Matu'a wore a hat?
Hats?
They must be red, the royal color.
And we want them immediately.
Think you're too good for us?
You like Long Ears
Or something else long?
Hello, Uka.
Koreto.
Hitirenga.
Traitor!
Well?
He said yes.
If I win.
And if you stay in the Virgin cave
Until the race.
I said no.
It doesn't matter.
We can go on the way we have.
It doesn't matter if we live Short Ear
or Long Ear.
- We'll keep to ourselves.
- I'll do it.
Ramana,
It's completely dark in the cave.
You can't stand up
Or move.
I'll do it, if you swim.
I don't want us
To be forbidden or secret anymore.
They don't think we love each
other enough to do this.
But they're wrong...
...about me.
Wait!
I'm sure her skin will grow
as pure as a baby's...
...But I doubt her virginity will.
It will be our little secret.
Finished for the day!
Stop work!
- What's this?
- The ration
The Ariki-mau promised we could
keep 30% of the crop.
- That is 30%.
- You could grow more.
You could stop having brats.
I'll have as many as I like, you Long Ear
Would you like to discuss
it with Tupa?
Good lad, Atta.
Anyone else?
Koreto will get us
In trouble with Tupa and the gods.
She's broken so any tapus
Makemake will eat her soul when she dies.
- At least
He'll be eating.
Don't blaspheme.
Give it back!
You hungry? Come on
- Who'd you steal it from?
- Tupa.
Again.
Go ahead.
I'm not that hungry.
Remember when we were little?
You, me and Ramana would come
and climb this thing.
Back when there were more trees.
Things change.
They say this land was
covered with trees.
But Hotu Matu'a will send for
us before they're gone.
At least that's what
grandfather says.
You believe all that?
Don't you?
I only believe
What I can see,
What I can feel,
And what I don't have.
Why did you
Bring me here?
To talk. Who do you think I'll
have to beat in the race?
Ngaara and Kahumea.
- What about Makita?
- He can't swim.
Help me train.
Just some pointers. You know,
for old time's sake.
Why?
So your grandfather can be Birdman
again and work us all to death?
I have to
Win, Make.
They'll let us marry if I win.
Where is she?
In the White Virgins cave
until the race.
You put her in that hole?!
She wanted to! It's the only
way the gods,
The gods?
There are no
Gods!
Except the ones we
Make up! There's no
Spiritland! No Hotu Matu'a
coming for us.
Nothing out there
But sea!
This is all there ever was!
All there ever will be
No matter how many idiot
statues we build.
You love her, too.
That's it, isn't it?
You're as
Blind as your grandfather.
And even dumber than your crazy father.
At least I know who my father was.
I don't need your
Long Ear handouts.
And we were never
Friends!
Will you swim for me,
the Ariki-mau
The reigning Birdman?
Haoa!
Will you train me to compete
for the Birdman?
My daughter sits in
a cave for you.
You know the cliffs
- And currents better than anyone.
- Do I?
You trained my father.
Crazy Long Ear.
He won.
Y es, he did. Then one day he got
in one of my canoes
Sailed over
The horizon and never returned.
Got me banished here.
I'm not like him.
- I can see that.
- I'll give you
What you want.
Oh?
Then make the forests grow back so I have
Wood to work.
And explain why Ramana's skin
is not good enough.
Will you train me?
No. You're too ignorant.
Who's there?
It's me.
Noro?
No. Make.
How are you?
I'd love to stand up,
Move my legs.
- Did they feed you today?
- A little, yes.
I brought you something.
Here.
A yam!
I'm sorry there's not more.
It's all I have.
I'm not rich,
- And Long Ear, like him.
- Make! You must stop this.
Ramana, you're Short Ear.
I'm short Ear.
Why can't you love your own Kind?
You cannot choose
Who you love. Only whose love
To accept.
I can wait.
I've waited all my life.
He was here again, wasn't he?
Are you cold?
- I brought you something warm.
- No, I'm fine.
Ramana,
Do you think I've been ignorant?
I think you've just been a boy.
Is it night or day, my love?
It's night.
Your forty-fifth.
Who will climb the cliffs at
Orongo in the spring?
And swim with the sharks to Motu Nui?
For the first manutara egg?
And if you win
Who will be your Birdman?
Let each clan
Announce their choice now.
Kahumea for Mokoi
Of the Marama clan.
Pounatea For Ataranga
Of the Haumoana clan.
Hinaioio
For Teaue of the Hamea clan.
Makita
For Hira of the Kotuu clan.
Ngaara
For Tiko of the Ngatimo clan.
Noroinia
Of the royal Miru clan
For the Ariki-mau..
Ariki-paka.
Matua Tane.
Something worries me.
The training?
Too many mouths having too many children.
Good land turning to
Dust.
It's the moai.
They're eating everything.
No one's thinking beyond that.
I said to myself,
If you, the Ariki-mau, knew
This was happening you would stop it.
Anyhow, this is what I see.
Worry about the race.
All clear!
Rollers ready!
But I don't understand.
Replaced?
It's taken 41/2 moons to get this far.
You're far behind schedule.
But we've had hats to do as well.
And there's not enough rope.
- Riro's in charge now!
- But...
This is not possible.
I've been master carver for 27 years.
This is all I have.
You're old, Heke.
Join the crew.
Move it!
Sorry, Heke.
Try and forget about it.
Go dump this.
Lines!
Lines ready?
Pit ready?
Cut the keel.
Cut the keel.
Again.
Come on!
Hold.
More rope!
More rope!
More men!
More men! Do as I say, quickly!
Move! Move!
What for?
Heke!
We want more.
More what?
More of everything.
There used to be plenty.
That was before there were
So many of you.
There are more Long Ears.
- But even more of you!
- We like it that way.
It's good to have lots of children.
It honors the ancestors.
Why aren't you in the quarry?
Heke's dead.
I heard.
Terrible thing. Terrible.
The Short Ears say they want
more of everything.
It was pointed out that as there
is more of everyone
Especially them,
there is unfortunately less.
Then we want more of what's left
Or what?
We will build no more moai. -Including
The big one.
Tupa said you loved the project.
Tupa!
Apparently I was misled.
Not finish the moai?
Are you mad?
Everything depends on that!
We want half the crops.
Half?
- And half the wood for fuel.
- What?
- And no more hats!
- That's ridiculous!
So is your stupid statue.
One more thing.
What?
We wanna compete for the Birdman.
Kill them!
Then
Who will build the moai?
None of us remember how.
A word, please, Tupa.
I don't need this. I have
chicken entrails to read.
Then let me slay them and
make your day serene.
Just give them something.
A little food and fuel.
But competing for the Birdman!
They'll be too tired,
But they have to have something.
Ariki-paka,
I don't recall me not caring, priest.
This is unheard of.
- It's bad precedent
- Just give them
Something!
Why?
Because I see real danger in all this.
Oh, why must everything
be so difficult?
Here he comes.
You have broken
so many tapu
today that Makemake
should eat your souls in
hell for eternity!
But I will grant these requests,
on one condition.
For the Short Ears to enter
The Birdman race
The Great Moai must be finished
With a hat, by the time
the sunbirds arrive
At Motu Nui.
But if he loses the race
The Short Ear competitor
will be sacrificed
To honor
The reign of the new Birdman,
Your insolence today!
Now,
Who would swim
for the Short Ears?
I will.
Make. If you win,
Who will be your Birdman?
Myself.
Fine. Back to work
Now.
Though I make one last
condition, Ariki-mau.
What?
If the great moai is
finished in time
And if I swim for
and win the Birdman
The girl
In the Virgin cave is mine.
That seems fair.
Agreed..
Just finish the moai
In time.
I don't want to hear it.
You said you'd win.
Make!
There, there.
Canoe builder!
Join us.
Your future son-in law asks you to
train him for the Birdman!
I can't.
Why not?
I promised someone else.
Come on!
Eat. Sleep.
At first light... we begin.
This is our chance.
We have a moon before the birds come.
You must help me do the impossible.
But if we work all day
When will you train?
Starting now.
One... two
Three!
- One... two
- Three!
One
- Two
- Three!
One! Two! Three!
Three!
One! Two! Three!
Do you want to win?
More than anything.
Enough to
- See him sacrificed?
- I guess.
No more guessing! If you win,
Make dies. Accept that.
Believe me, he has.
Your future.
From now on, wear it whenever you
Climb or swim.
It mustn't break, no matter what.
If it does
You lose.
Now get back in the water.
Why'd you change your mind?
I saw something...
...I think.
Ready?
Let's go.
Ready?
One...
...two...
...three,
Push!
One, two three, push!
One, two three, push!
One, two three,
Push!
Come on! Reach up! Up on the
left there! Above you!
Faster... and stop crossing your feet.
Pull!
Ready!
Pull!
Pull!
No resting!
You plan to rest in the race?
Don't fight the surge-you'll lose.
When it's not pulling, you swim!
Good. Now get back out there.
Make,
We're running out of logs.
The weight grinds them to dust.
- Grease them.
- With what? Nothing's left.
Use these.
Cut the ration.
Nothing else matters.
Soon we'll have nothing to
eat but each other.
Protect the egg. Come on.
Wake up.
Jump. Jump. Jump.
They might do it. I've never seen
them work like this.
Good.
Yes, it is.
But it also means the Short
Ear might compete.
This Make is very driven.
They say he never sleeps.
- Noroinia will win.
- Of course.
But what if something
happens and he doesn't?
What if no Long Ear wins?
Imagine what would happen if a
Short Ear became Birdman.
Noroinia not win?
Why, that's like saying these great moai
Are nothing but big rocks.
What are they fighting over? -Food, I
I don't want to hear anymore.
I think you place too much
confidence in him.
Noroinia?
Win or lose, he is the
next Miru chief
But, forgive me, sire
He is not cut from the same
stone as yourself.
He needs a strong hand, someone
trusted, like myself
To guide him in strange times
like these or, even
To replace him should
he suffer,
Say, some untimely tragic death.
Death?
Tell me I won't be
Just another skull under the ahu.
Tell me you won't be making
fishhooks from my thighbones.
The White Canoe
That's my destiny,
Isn't it?
- The signs are certainly there.
- Signs everywhere!
You said so yourself!
That ring around the last moon.
That strange taste in my mouth.
And now, I have told no one this
But each time I pee,
There is blood.
What can it possibly mean?
Wondrous things, Ariki-mau.
Coming soon, I'm sure.
Don't worry, long-eared boy.
We've come for the tree.
Are you crazy?
This is the last one!
Someone will cut it down.
Why not us?
Just leave it! Just one!
Haoa,
Why did my father leave?
Was he as crazy as people say?
You've seen where the craziness is.
Where did he sail?
There's no place to go.
All the other lands have sunk.
He had to see for himself.
Even if it killed him?
Your father was restless.
When your mother died having you,
Life here stopped making sense to him.
Then one day,
In a tidepool,
He found this.
Is it made by the gods?
Or some sort of men.
It has to be from the sunken
lands, doesn't it?
Doesn't it?
Ramana, I'm here.
Ramana?
Noro?
Let me sleep, love.
Don't make me wake to this.
You must eat.
Here.
I was dreaming you'd won
when you woke me.
Yeah
And of you and I walking in the sun.
And just lying together, under our tree.
How wonderful.
Where do you come from?
Where do you go?
Finished?
Yes.
Where is it? White Canoe.
Not enough, I guess.
But you may compete.
Wear this for luck.
It was your father's
Were you friends?
You and my father?
Brothers, really.
Why didn't you go with him?
I was afraid..
Good. Good.
More babies.
More everything.
That's what we need.
Isn't it?
Competitors, prepare yourselves to
Descend these heights, swim to
Motu Nui, and find
The first manutara egg,
Them swim back carry the egg.
Up the cliffs
And present it, unbroken, to
your Birdman candidate
That is what you
Must do to win, to be God's representative
On this Navel of the World
To hold sway
Over all other clans.
And for two of you,
there's also this.
Matua Tane.
If I win, you retire.
It's time for a new Ariki-mau.
Say, "go. "
Go!
The Short Ear, Make
He's swimming strong.
What did we promise him?
The girl in the cave.
Shave your head, Ataranga!
Ataranga!
I have
The egg!
Ah, Ngaara!
Shark. Shark!
Three left! Red, yellow, black!
This should be interesting.
And what happens if the Short Ear loses?
He dies!
Help me!
Help me! Hit him!
Help me!
Hit him!
Hit him!
Make, Make!
I won.
- Noro.
- Yes.
The White Canoe
The White Canoe!
The White Canoe!
Come on.
Ramana's sick, Matua Tane.
I can't leave her.
Priest?
All my life, I've waited
for just this day
But someone must guide the new
Ariki-mau until you
Send
For us.
What did you think salvation
would look like?
Bye!
Farewell!
Remember me!
Bye!
Had to be the hats.
Farewell!
Bye!
You didn't tell me
Make swam, too.
And that he's to die.
You didn't tell me about the child.
He was right, the Ariki-mau.
He knew the gods' will.
Will Makemake descend on us?
I saw the moai on the ahu and
they were breathing!
- Another Long Ear trick.
- Stop it!
There!
There!
What are you doing here?
He lost. I've come
for his head. And to discuss
The new moai.
We start tomorrow.
New moai?
We're through with all that.
We've just begun.
You saw what happened.
The gods kept their promise.
The Long Ear mana
Proved its power.
We will build bigger
And bigger moai
Until the gods
Favor us again.
But with one difference.
From now on
All moai will have
Beards.
Are you with me?
He's a priest!
They are Long Ears!
Not anymore.
What was that?
What was that?
Something in the village.
- Fighting?
- I'll go see.
- Don't.
- I must. I'm the Ariki-mau.
Take me.
You can't see. I'll return for
you as soon as I can.
I'll be back.
Die!
Not yet.
Watch how people die,
Ariki-paka.
- Watch.
- Don't turn away.
Watch them burn.
Watch them.
Kill him, Riro.
Kill him!
You've become what you
sought to destroy.
We were friends once.
I'll let you live.
But we rule now!
Suffer, Ariki-paka!
Ramana?
Ramana?
Ramana!
Have you seen Ramana?
Atta! Have you seen Ramana?
Ramana?
I've looked every...
What are you doing?
Filling our bellies.
You can't do this.
That's not who we are.
Who's going to stop us?
Haoa!
Your daughter.
I thought I'd lost you.
I thought that's what you wanted.
We were both wrong.
I know why my father left, Haoa.
I understand.
Then you're ready for this.
Your wedding gift.
Come with us.
No.
If I'd been braver, I would have
gone with your father.
Now I'm too old to go with you.
Hurry.
Don't look back.