Movies Set on Islands

Time. It's one thing that I do have. I'm using my time off to travel to some of the Scottish islands on a boat with a couple of mates. While I could do a review of the islands, we're mainly going to there to visit distilleries and villages to get drunk (a mate who is with broke her ankle, so can't really walk around), so instead I'll mention some movies which are set on Islands, and which I enjoyed:

10. Battle Royale [2000]

Takeshi Kitano (Centre, bottom row) takes time out from guarding his Castle to encourage murder. [Source]

A Class of school kids are placed on an island and forced to kill each other. The last surviving one gets to leave, and the action is televised to provide entertainment to a dystopian nation, and to cull off members of underperforming schools. This Japanese satire of the entertainment industry now looks mildly prophetic, and it also works as an allegory for the cutthroat world of business after leaving school. This movie is now considered a classic, but I disagree, it's overlong and not very focused, and provides a real 'deus ex machina' to help the heroine and her boyfriend survive. It's not great, though it is famous, and the killing takes place on an remote Japanese island, and so it makes number ten.

9. Lord of the Flies [1963]

This picture is from the 1990 version, where Piggy is much more 'Pig-Like' [source]

A planefull of British Schoolboys crash onto a tropical island (which is also Gary Glitter's recurring dream), they soon shed their schooling notions of civilisation and resort to violence, murder and human sacrifice. Meanwhile, it's heavily implied that the adults who have provided them with these same notions of civilisation have begun a nuclear war, and the children were only in a plane to be evacuated. I watched this movie in high school, and we were then asked to compare the movie to the book (we had one of those teachers). However, what I remember mostly was that at least three of our class could qualify to play the character of 'Piggy': glasses-wearing, unsporty, dandruffy, and likely to be cooked within an hour of the crash.

8. The Thin Red Line [1998] 

This picture gives a wrong impression, it's beautifully shot, but not particularly action-heavy [source]

Another Terrence Malick Movie that people either love or hate. If you've seen one, you'll know whether you'll like this or not. It's beautifully filmed, and a philosophical enquiry into the nature of humanity, violence, and even environmental concerns. This one is based on a platoon in the Pacific during the Second World War, and suffered by coming out at pretty much the same time as Saving Private Ryan. A group of celebrity soldiers (seriously, any actor you can think of is in it, it really ruins the illusion of the movie for me when John Travolta and George Clooney rock up) are not only at war with the Japanese, and with themselves, but with nature itself. Though you may think this infuriatingly vague, you can't deny that it is beautifully shot. The setting of the island remains a beautiful reflection of nature, which is indifferent to the human suffering due to the war raging around it.

7. Whiskey Galore [1949]

Surprisingly strong teeth for a booze-hound? [Source]

 An Ealing comedy, supposedly based on a true story, about a Scottish island community deciding first how to get, and then what to do with, the tonnes of whiskey which have shown up on their island after a shipwreck. Various obstacles are in their way, not least a stuffy English army leader who is there. It's an Ealing comedy, so it's pretty funny, pretty screwy, and worth a watch, especially for the way that the islanders and mainlanders are shown as being basically different species.

6. I Walked With a Zombie [1943]

He's one big Zombie boy. [source]

 A Caribbean-style zombie remake of 'Jane Eyre', which we watched when the same teacher who showed us #9 was in sick. The movie is interesting, and a little frightening, even if we were shown it at the age where half the class automatically got erections when the lights were dimmed. Will definitely check this out if I can find it again, especially as it was only about an hour long.

5. King Kong [1933]  / Mothra [1961] 

Mothra's Egg, she then turns into a giant grub, then to a moth. This is 'Eggra'?[source]

I mean the original King Kong, not the pointless and over-long remake by Peter Jackson. The original is a wonderful piece of 1930s nonsense, and which seemed to be on TV every day I had chickenpox when I was 11, so I can pretty much remember it by heart. Possibly parodied so much that you will have seen every scene in one way or another before you have actually seen the movie  (see also 'The Graduate'), but brilliant; and the Island, skull-shaped and ominous, is incredible. I'd also like to mention the island on which the deranged 'Mothra' is set, without giving anything away, it's definitely worth checking out, particularly if you are high (on life).Seriously it might be the maddest movie about giants moths you'll ever see.

4. Ieodo Island [1977]

An atmospheric scenegrab from an atmospheric movie.

 OK, I'm putting this here to show how cultured I am, and it's probably the most obscure movie I've ever watched: A Korean murder mystery with magic and primitive beliefs. It's a movie where the villagers of the island try to continue living their ritualistic, almost primitive lives, even as times change and a tourist hotel is planned. There's also a possible murder mystery tying the whole thing together. The conclusion, which I won't give away, genuinely blew my mind. I can't really go into any more detail without giving it away. If you can, try to see this movie, but go in with an open mind
.

3. Profound Desires of the Gods [1968] 

Cool, freaky masks seem to play a big part of Island life. [source]

Similar in theme to #4, but set on a slightly friendlier Okinawan island. The setting is beautiful, and made me realise how much I miss coral reef when I'm not around it (what an arsehole thing to think!). A theme of the movie is how the villagers, who are slowly modernising, try in vain to hold onto their rituals. The film centres around one family, ostracised by the village but still held in regard as its shamans, and who are reflective of the islands gods own origin story. The family leader is forced to dig a hole in an Sisyphean penance; his sister, and possible lover, is the village shaman forced to live with a village elder. This village elder is smart enough to straddle the primitive elements of the island and also act as a go-between for the huge company which employs the majority of the village. Other than this there is a hard working son who longs to move to Tokyo, and a retarded-but-attractive daughter, who may or may not be a genuine prophetess herself. A visiting engineer falls in love with her, and for a time shuns the notions of civilisation to enjoy this paradise. The paradise however, is just as violent as anywhere else, and the villagers struggle to find fresh water and employment the majority of the time. A couple of really shocking scenes, including the last appearance of the grandpa, and the red sailed boat, give this an ethereal, violent quality which is hard to explain; the movie runs to nearly three hours, but drifts by with a dream-like ease. The conclusion, which suggests that most of the villagers have left, or are now being viewed as a sort of primitive museum by smug mainlanders, is also very poignant.

2. Trick The Movie 2 [2004]

Someday I want to be painted like this. [source]

 A movie I watched on a plane, and liked it so much that I hunted it down on DVD. It's about a couple (one a scientist, the other a failed magician) who use their knowledge to solve magic happenings. Juxtaposed with this is a uniquely Japanese sense of humour, filled with slapstick, puns, insane visual jokes (such as an unexplained gift they are given, a computer generated caterpillar) as well as musical and visual cues which make it genuinely hilarious. I would love to see it remade into English; the closest thing in existence would be perhaps Jonathan Creek, but this movie is a lot cleverer and a lot more funny. The two leads are a lot more attractive as well. The fight scene is hilarious, and some of the visual gags are astonishing and ridiculous. Anyway, the couple are charged with solving the disappearance of a girl many years ago which leads them to an island where a mysterious, cult-like figure uses magic to impress her charges. Unlike #3, the island isn't beautiful or tropical, but has a more, ragged, cold feeling to it, and this is reflected by its unresponsive, obtrusive occupants. A Scottish remake is on the way.

1. The Wicker Man [1973]

Procession with masks. This already looks like enormous fun, and then you get to sacrifice someone! [source]

 As I will soon be travelling to the Scottish isles, I mean the original Wicker Man, not the awful remake. Here a religious Scottish policeman is summoned to an island to solve the mysterious disappearance of a girl. When he gets there, he finds the villagers less than helpful, but enjoying life practising pagan rituals, one of which he becomes a huge and unwitting part of. I have the DVD of this, and I think that the original version, rather than the extended version, is better. The extended version tends to overexplain things, instead of thriving on their mystery. A scene from the extended version where Christopher Lee talks while two snails mate is ridiculous rather than powerful. The conclusion is very interesting, and makes a great deal of sense in the context of the rest of the movie. It is a real surprise. The juxtaposition of eccentric characters, intelligent leaders, religious self-oppression and retribution at the films conclusion makes this a real British cult classic. As do the musical numbers, which have made its translation into a Glasgow Musical possible. The island on which it is set, Summerisle, has palm trees growing on it, and this is apparently true, an Atlantic drift warms the currents and makes it unusually warm in a small area of the North West of the Scottish highlands. There is a myth that there are islands where pineapples can grow, but I have never seen that. I have however, seen tropical ferns and palm trees north of Ullapool. I will let you know if I see anything else on my trip.

In conclusion:
this list was harder to do than I'd imagined, I still left off 'Hell in the Pacific', 'L'avventura' (which is beautiful, but which I found really pretentious) and possibly 'Milo and Otis'. In most of these movies, islands provide a geographical boundary from the mainland which can help to isolate those not from the islands, and allow the islanders themselves to develop communities as they see fit, the people can be either accommodating or evil. Similarly, shipwrecks or prolonged periods away from 'civilisation' can lead to people either reverting to a more 'primitive' way of life, or being tempted by its siren-like call. A common theme in these movies is that the people of the island are 'backwards', acting more primitively than those of the mainland, and still clinging onto rituals which mainland people shed years ago. Sacrificing to appease gods, or cowed by magic seems to be a common theme, at least in the list I have made above. Luckily, in real life, most people I know from Islands are lovely. In all cases, the settings, surrounded by sea and therefore potentially cut off from civilisation, adds to the sense of either beauty and naturalism, or of fear and claustrophobia.

p.s. photos of the trip up later, promise!