“The Legend of Johnny Lingo”

By David DiCerto
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- A young boy leaves his island home an outcast only to return a king, in the Polynesian coming-of-age fable "The Legend of Johnny Lingo" (MGM).

The film is set against the tropical splendor of the South Seas at the close of the 19th century. Director Steven Ramirez, working on a tight budget, focuses on character and narrative development to spin a heartwarming yarn of love and adventure for the entire family.

Based on a short story by Patricia McGerr, the film tells the tale of Tama, who as an infant is orphaned by the sea and washed ashore on the paradisiacal island of Malio. Deemed a gift from the gods, the mysterious child is adopted by the islanders' kindhearted chieftain (Rawiri Paratene), who bestows on him the right of kingly succession.

Unwilling to see her own son cast aside, the chief's cunning wife plots against the tyke, using her power of persuasion to pin the blame for a rash of unfortunate island events on the child, noting that the misfortunes commenced with Tama's arrival. The superstitious islanders pressure the chief to disown the child, which he does begrudgingly, placing him in the care of a kinsman. But bad luck seems to follow Tama wherever he goes, resulting in his being handed off from hut to hut.

He grows into a boy (Tausani Simei-Barton) but is treated as a pariah, forced into servitude, selling kindling for the island drunkard, whose daughter, Mahana (Fokikovi Soakimi) -- herself an outcast and the brunt of cruel jokes -- is the only person who shows compassion for Tama.

Friendship blossoms into young romance, but the call of the sea -- and Tama's true home beyond the waves -- proves irresistible. Tama sets off in a hand-carved canoe, vowing to return someday to claim Mahana as his bride.

Adrift on the ocean, Tama finds himself once again providentially washed ashore -- this time on an island owned by Johnny Lingo (George Henare), a wealthy merchant renowned throughout the South Pacific whose past is shrouded in mystery. Taking him under his wing, Lingo teaches Tama the ways of the sea, apprenticing him to follow in his footsteps and run his lucrative trade route business. As he matures into a man, Tama (played as an adult by Joe Falou) voyages to neighboring islands with Lingo, learning the truth about his past along the way, paving the way for the tale's storybook ending.

Like most fables, the story is simple; yet it is precisely this narrative unpretentiousness that gives the film emotional resonance. Uncluttered by postmodern balderdash and psychoanalytic hokum, the story unfolds with the moral clarity of a parable, smuggling in its lessons of love and forgiveness with the disarming charm of a child's bedtime tale.

While lacking the resources that would have enabled the film to pack a more cinematic punch, Ramirez convincingly captures the flavor of the tropical setting, filming the story completely amid the Cook Islands in the South Pacific and employing a cast made up entirely of native New Zealanders.

Yet, despite its exotic locale, the story's family-oriented themes of compassion and discovering a person's true worth are timeless and universal. Full of Dickensian twists and fortuitous revelations, this diamond in the rough overcomes its modest scope and at times stiff performances by placing more value in good old-fashioned storytelling, than by blitzing viewers with hollow special effects.

In our spiritually malnourished age, when young viewers are fed a steady diet of debasement, "Johnny Lingo's" message, that something very special resides in each of us, is a welcome change of fare, one consistent with our Christian belief in the singular sacredness of every person. Like Tama, life's misfortunes may make us outcasts, but God's grace has made us kings and queens.

The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-I -- general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G -- general audiences.

* DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.