Moana

For this assignment I reviewed Moana. Moana is a Disney movie about a Polynesian tribe woman, that takes it upon herself to save her island from complete destruction and death. Moana sets out with Maui, a demigod that helps her find and restore the heart of Te Fiti, a life-giving element that has been stolen for many years, resulting in destruction of the islands. Once the heart is restored, the islands are full of life, and brought back into a state of peace and harmony. When I first saw this movie, like most people I thought it was a cute movie, another typical movie of a young girl saving her family or in this case an island from death and destruction. It wasn’t until I watched it in the context of confession. In the movie Moana goes through a series of hurdles, she teaches herself how to sail and she knows who she is, and that she has a special gift in terms of the ocean. Moana sets off to saver her people, no matter what the cost, she puts her life on the line for the people she loves. Like Christ in a way, Christ put his whole life on the line for us to be saved. At the end of the movie, Moana has found the heart of Te Fiti, she holds the heart in her hand, but because of the darkness that has taken over Te Fiti, she is destroying everything in her sight. Moana holds the heart out and gets Te Fiti’s attention, Moana sings to Te Fiti— “I have crossed the horizon to find you I know your name They have stolen the heart from inside you But this does not define you This is not who you are You know who you are" When I heard this lyric I thought of the words that God the Father utters in our soul. That he crosses the horizon to find us, He knows everything about us. This world we live in, like Moana’s is often dark and gloomy, and often we find out hearts to be stolen from things that won’t satisfy us and our souls that long for God— but nevertheless, it doesn’t define who we are in the end, even if we make it seem like they do, it’s not who we are. It is only when we know WHOSE we are, we can know WHO we are. In the end of the movie, Moana restores the heart and the islands are brought back into unity and life— like in confession when God the Father personally restores our once pure hearts and brings back the life into our eyes, and we find that in this life we can be truly happy in God and in God alone. Moana is a reflection of the Father’s love for us in our lives, it’s not a movie we have to look super in depth to, and it’s not a movie we have to go fishing for reasons why it inhibits the Father’s love. It simply is a movie that reflects the way the Father loves us through people, but specifically through the sacraments.

I like the story and the positive message that it's important to follow your dreams and that it's worth to be good even if it's hard and that good always prevail. However there's too many scary moments, which is totally unnecessary. My 4+ kid was really scared several times, but like it in general. My 7+ wasn't afraid, but didn't understand everything.