Moana (1926)

Category: Movies •

Genre: Documentary •

Rating: 6.6

Director: Robert Flaherty, Frances H. Flaherty,

Writer: Julian Johnson, Frances H. Flaherty (Screenplay), Robert Flaherty (Screenplay),

Cast: Ta'avale, Fa'amgase, Tama, T'ugaita, Pe'a, Leupenga,

Language: en

Country: USA

Release Date: January 7, 1926

Plot: Robert J. Flaherty’s follow-up to Nanook of the North shifts from the Arctic to the South Seas, portraying Samoan village life with a painterly eye. Blending ethnographic detail with a romanticized “Gauguin idyll,” the film celebrates daily rituals, communal traditions, and the passage into adulthood, suffused with what Flaherty called “pride of beauty, pride of strength.”