ALOHA starts off with historical pictures depicting stills from a child’s past. It seamlessly moves into footage of the U.S. Air force and Hawaii while revealing a present day child obsessed with the Hawaiian God Lono. As the movie kicks in it is shown that the Protagonist, Brian Gilcrest, played by Bradley Cooper has always been fascinated with space and the galaxy and was destined to join NASA, which he does. However the audience finds that NASA too is heavily funded by Corporates, and the hero, following a huge budget cut at NASA, finds work with a tycoon played by Bill Murray… who is heavily invested in the galaxy.
As the story develops we see Cooper going on a mission with the U.S. Air Force to Hawaii. There he is assigned the comradery of Captain Ng played by Emma Stone, who proves to be an earnest, quarter Hawaiian who is poetic, responsible, and highly loyal to Hawaii.
In this entire midst a new character is introduced – Brad’s ex-girlfriend, played by Rachel McAdams, who is married to a U.S. Air Force pilot. The two have a happy family or do they? As the story unfolds it is exposed that the older 13-year-old daughter is actually Cooper’s daughter. The two were dating several years back and Cooper had stood her up when she had asked him to join her for a vacation. Now she’s is not too happy with her practically mute husband; she feels that she needs an explanation for why Cooper stood her up. She expresses to him that “you can’t just let people go.” He explains that she had posed the vacation as an ultimatum and that had turned him off.
The scene where MsAdams invites Brad for dinner is central to the story; we see broken hearts, disillusionment with war, disconnected marriages, and a passionate allegiance towards Hawaii played by Emma Stone, who stands for that love for one’s country as well as one’s race. It is a plethora to deal with and amidst this jungle of themes, and then two more iconic characters are developed. Murray plays the conglomerate that is heavily invested in NASA and Alec Baldwin plays the head of the U.S. Air Force stationed to carry out a mission in Hawaii. And as things are churning, so does the romance between Cooper and Stone. It is sweet, flawless, and almost pure. But in the backdrop is brewing something larger than life, the negotiations with the Hawaiian men for “land, cash, and cell phones”, or as Cooper puts it, in exchange for two mountains and cell phones. He tells Stone, the Captain, that all the talk about sky and the Gods is only peripheral, “Nothing’s sacred, all is for sale.” This however is contrary to the beliefs of Stone who feels that the sky needs to be untainted and free and that no weapons belong there. Cooper and Stone’s negotiations with the Hawaiian chief, Bumpy, further reveal an underlying theme of the movie, as written on his T-Shirt “Hawaiian by birth” on his front and “American by Force” at the back.
Overall ALOHA is a feel good film, with intrinsic themes of marriage and fidelity, past passions, loyalty to one’s nation, exploitation of the underprivileged and love between two people. Ultimately it stands for humanity, how that humaneness is imperative, and how that’s what finally rescues people from dying. What eventually matters is those moral values and the innate need to be good. Cooper, Stone and McAdams rocked in their renditions of the characters. They were all very believable. The story is very interesting. It could have done a bit better had it been tightened by 15 minutes. However the scene that depicts the dance between Murray and Stone was totally entertaining. In short a fun film with great acting. The backdrop of Hawaii certainly added a charm to the production. The movie leaves one feeling emotionally satisfied with a happy lyrical feeling like that of an uplifting song.
