SIFF: “Dear Aloha” Speaks to Hawaiian Identity & Diaspora
"As of 2023, 53% of Native Hawaiians do not live in Hawai‘i. This staggering statement opens Cris Romento’s short documentary, Dear Aloha. People who have only seen Hawai‘i in photos know of its staggering beauty, so when you hear a statistic like that, the first thought that likely comes to your mind is how? How on earth could you leave a place like Hawai‘i? Dear Aloha shows that the choice to do so is not one Native Hawaiians want, but one that has been essentially forced onto them.
Dear Aloha focuses on Native Hawaiians who now live in the Pacific Northwest. Romento’s family is one such group. Her parents made the decision thirty years ago to leave their home because they could not afford the cost of living there anymore. As one member of the family puts it, “Making ends meet was not our way of surviving and raising a family.” Now, in the Pacific Northwest, they were in a much better financial place, but it’s clearly taken a toll on them emotionally and spiritually. Native Hawaiians have such a connection and sense of place that the loss of their life on the islands is immense. Dear Aloha questions what aloha is and how it sustains those who no longer live on the islands.
Courtesy of Dear Aloha
The notion of the Hawaiian Diaspora is relatively new. It’s a term that refers to the displacement of Native Hawaiians. Of course, this displacement is not new and goes back to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, but naming it is. Dear Aloha finds strength in recognizing the weight of the diaspora on those who have left and those trying to make a living while staying. The documentary is a wide mix of emotions: anger, joy, heartache, loss; all being given their due. The loss of those featured in the documentary is much more multifaceted than those on the outside might realize, but Dear Aloha gives this pain a space to breathe.
“It's not about what you show on the outside, but what you feel on the inside.” The aloha spirit is something intangible, something that connects Hawaiians around the world to the place where their hearts are. Dear Aloha is a strikingly earnest, beautifully captured story of identity. The documentary is deceptively simple, yet packs an informative punch. It’s a story of families and intergenerational legacies that continue on through the spirit of aloha.
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