Guam: The Movie
My recent columns have focused on Guam History and pandemics, but I thought it might be good to lighten the mood as we approach the end of our first month of social distancing lockdown. Streaming and online video services such as Youtube or Netflix were already important parts of recreational life for all ages prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but as people are left with fewer social or entertainment options, they are becoming, for those that can afford it, essential diversions.
Even for myself, when faced with extra time that is usually spent in coffee shops on my laptop, meeting with people, conducting workshops or interviews, I turn to online videos or television shows to help pass the time. I have yet to watch “Tiger King” yet, but almost everyone tells me that it is a must-watch. I will get to it once I finish with the 15 seasons of “Grey’s Anatomy.
If it isn’t a punchline, then it is just used as a convenient in-between space. The Guam they invoke doesn’t really exist, is little more than a name on a map, a flight connecting larger and more important places across the Pacific. These sort of Guam mentions in some way reinforce our minor, colonial status. Rarely in these mentions is Guam itself ever shown. Almost never are the people, in particular the Chamoru people ever mentioned or shown. For people, especially younger people who absorb these mentions, they wonder does mean that we don’t really exist? Or that we simply don’t matter?
Beyond these minute mentions there are a handful of movies that engage more directly with Guam and the Marianas. For some, they were actually filmed in the islands and you can see the landscape and sometimes the people. For others they were filmed elsewhere, but the story is set in Guam and the Marianas.
Sadly, many of these films are not considered to be high-quality or blockbusters. Some of them are the kind that you might watch only as a last resort on Netflix, after you have watched almost everything else in your queue. Some of them may qualify for status as being “so bad they are good.” Some are just bad.
Needless to say, there are a few gems that you may want to consider, some of them you may be familiar with, others you may not have realized. Next week we’ll get into some of those recommendations.
Michael Lujan Bevacqua is an author, artist and activist who works for Sen. Kelly Marsh.
In this time of social distancing lockdown, people fortunate enough to be able to have reliable internet and access to streaming services are watching more shows and movies than ever before. Previous generations will share stories about wartime occupation and suffering; we might share tales of running out of things to watch on Netflix.
While we remain locked down and glued to our devices, I wanted to suggest using the time to watch some of the Guam or Marianas movies that you’ll find floating around the film world. As a warning, many aren’t great, some are terrible. For this column I’ll be talking about some of those bad films, but next week we’ll move on to higher quality fare.
You can find Guam used as a backdrop for a handful of films, some more notable than others. One of the most interesting is 1967’s “Son of Godzilla.” This eighth film in the franchise introduced Godzilla’s adopted son Minilla.
Guam is used for many of the exterior shots, but whenever the monsters would battle it out, you can see the change in shooting location, as real coconut trees are replaced with miniatures in a sound studio.
It was only a few years after this that Guam’s first official film, as in produced and shot on Guam, was released — “Noon Sunday.” The late Sen. Gordon Mailloux spearheaded the project in hopes of nurturing a local film industry. The story of “Noon Sunday” was not set in Guam however, but instead a fictional island where a despotic imperial Asian nation is brutalizing the local people and installing missiles that have to be destroyed.
“Noon Sunday” isn’t a very good film in plenty of ways, but it is still fascinating to watch. It its setting it echoes both World War II and the story of George Tweed and also the Cuban Missile Crisis. Excitingly, it features shootouts across the island, including downtown Humåtak.
Part of the selling point for this film’s production was the idea that it would bring Hollywood to Guam. It did, to some extent. The two American agents tasked with infiltrating the island are played by John Russell from the show “Lawmen” and Mark Lenard, most famous for playing Sarek in the “Star Trek” original television show and movies.
This same lure of Hollywood would come into play for 2004’s “Max Havoc: Curse of the Dragon.” This film was not only set in Guam, but also filmed here and starred martial artist Mickey Hardt, model Joanna Krupa, Richard “Shaft” Roundtree and David “Kung Fu” Carradine.
Roundtree and Carradine did not travel to Guam for their scenes, but “Baywatch” star Carmen Electra did, and is featured briefly reading the Pacific Daily News while relaxing beside Tumon Bay.
While the film does feature karate fights in downtown Tumon, it doesn’t offer much else quality-wise. Max Havoc is a retired fighter who has become a sports photographer. While in Guam shooting photos for a hotel promotion, he becomes entangled with yakuza who are hunting for the thief who stole a priceless jade dragon from them.
I don’t know if “Max Havoc” brought Hollywood to Guam, because I doubt it ever really went to Hollywood. I picked up a copy soon after it was released, in a bargain bin at Kmart.
Michael Lujan Bevacqua is an author, artist and activist who works for Sen. Kelly Marsh.
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For two weeks now, we’ve been discussing Guam films and it has been an interesting journey. Thus far we’ve tackled movies that mention Guam briefly, and films made in Guam, where the quality might not be greatest. For this column, let’s talk about some films worth watching.
While Guam may not have a many feature, narrative-focused films, this isn’t the case for documentaries. Some of these documentaries are tourist fare, filmed to show some of the culture and beautiful landscape. Some are more serious and heavier in tone.
Most Guam documentaries are historical in nature, with the bulk focusing on World War II and the Japanese occupation. What is wonderful about some of these documentaries isn’t how they focus on the tactics of empires and armies, but rather how they captured oral history and testimonies from the CHamorus who were here during the Japanese occupation.
I worked as a producer on one such documentary, “War for Guam.” The project was started 20 years ago, and by the time it was finished 15 years later, several of the people we had interviewed, Tony Palomo, Sister Elaine Camacho and Tony Artero had passed away.
By far, one of the most unique but also most difficult to get a hold of nowadays is “Guam’s History In Song” from Carmen Iglesias Santos. CHamorus have always been a lyrical people, creating and singing songs. As CHamorus went about their daily lives, they improvised songs, throwing verses back and forth to each other and using what they created to commemorate, to fall in love, to tease or to vent.
For Carmen Santos, she chose this creative form to frame her documentary on recent Guam history. Parts of prewar, wartime and postwar Guam history were given lyrical life through traditional Chamoru songs. It is a beautiful example of indigenous adaptation.
The director wanted to use a new media format, the documentary film, to tell a story, but also wanted to stay true to how CHamorus culturally would have wanted to present it. A second volume was planned but, sadly, never released.
“Guam History in Song” is just one of several examples of how Chamoru have used documentary films to contend with the issues many indigenous people face; loss of culture, loss of sovereignty, loss of identity in a world where, due to the circumstances of history, they have been largely left out.
“Chamoru Dreams” by Eric Tydingco is an another example of this.
This documentary follows the director as he returns to Guam after living stateside, and how he tries to rediscover his cultural roots. Among those he seeks help from are his grandmother, Julia Tydingco (my great-grandmother’s sister), and also a young Leonard Iriarte, who later became a master of CHamoru culture for chanting.
Like many CHamorus who undertake similar identity-quests, he at first seems to only find things that represent outside, colonial influences.
Eventually while going fishing and then visiting a latte site in the jungle, he is able to feel a connection, a spiritual connection that he only felt in his dreams. Surrounded by his heritage, he finally encounters it in his waking life.
This epiphany is a great metaphor for how CHamorus have used films to help sustain the local cultural renaissance. More on that in next week’s column when we get to the film “Shiro’s Head.”
Michael Lujan Bevacqua is an author, artist and activist who works for Sen. Kelly Marsh.
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So much creative potential on Guam
Michael Lujan Bevacqua
Pacific Daily News
May 7, 2020
It has been three weeks thus far of columns on Guam movies and Guam movie mentions. I end this series today with a column on what could be called the first Guam film, “Shiro’s Head.”
Created by Don Muña and Kel Muña, also known as the Muña Brothers, their film premiered on Guam in 2008 and later screened at film festivals throughout the Pacific and the U.S.
While technically “Noon Sunday,” released in 1970, could be considered the first Guam movie, one could argue otherwise. The movie was filmed on Guam, but not set on Guam. While it did use CHamorus and others as extras, all the main actors and crew were brought to Guam from the U.S. and Asia.
“Shiro’s Head” is the first film that is set in Guam and meant to genuinely represent Guam. It features locals as the actors. It uses the CHamoru language. Its story and setting are also meant to provide commentary on Guam, CHamoru culture and an alternative version of the island’s history.
If you haven’t watched “Shiro’s Head,” I encourage you to do so. Lao na’listo hao. Be prepared. It is gritty and challenging for a local film. It is not the type of thing you include as part of a scenic Guam highlight reel. It shows both the beauty of the island, but also the rundown nature of the island’s urbanization.
Through the experiences of one family, struggling with intergenerational secrets, the movie delves into the island’s past, social violence and family estrangement. Different characters represent different historical forces, such as CHamorus, the Japanese and the United States.
Fascinatingly, one scene features a Japanese assassin sitting across the street from the Lotus Surf Shop in Tumon listening to Joe McCarrel’s cover of his dad’s song “Maseha Håfa Taimanu” on an iPod.
What they started with their first film, of piquing the island’s interest in local films, the Muña Brothers have continued. While the pair have gone on to other media projects, by far their largest post-“Shiro’s Head” contribution, has been their work spearheading The Guam International Film Festival.
Since 2011, this event has brought films and filmmakers from around the world to Guam. Most importantly, it has also helped to provide a venue for local filmmakers to aspire to produce short films to contribute and premiere.
Magellan referred to Guam as the island of thieves. A PBS documentary once called Guam “Island of Warriors” due to the high number of veterans. Plenty of people think of Guam as an island of snakes.
I like to think of Guam as an island of artists. There is so much creative potential on Guam, a great deal of it borne from a desire to tell the story of this place and represent it to the rest of the world.
But for generations now, with the exception of music, in limited ways, we haven’t created venues for people to develop those talents. The GIFF is one such venue that has premiered, in less than 10 years, dozens of high-quality local short films.
While the promise of bringing Hollywood to Guam may never materialize, this does not mean that we shouldn’t be doing more to support these storytellers and artists who are working to find creative ways to put our island and stories out there for the world to view.
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