This film is unique and as refreshing as a cool breeze on a warm balmy evening. Set in Hawaii, in what is normally a relaxed urban sprawl of natural luxury, a family is plunged into turmoil when mum Elizabeth, is comatosed as a result of a boating accident. In the wake of this incident, Dad Matt, and his young daughters, have to deal with issues they would not normally have been confronted with had the tragedy not disturbed their ideal existence. Don't be put off by this film's patriotic title "The Descendants" and by George Clooney's previous roles as brutish and cruel characters. Although the story revolves around Dad (Matt King), the movie is matriarchal in that it illustrates a culture and attitude that successfully merges business with family lifestyle, life with death, so neutralizing polarities as most typical western cultures eg. America (tangled up in blue (the new white) and black), have not resolved to achieve. In Hawaii there is no heaven or hell, only paradise. Life on earth was meant to be easy. This family deal with their emotions in a functional humane manner. One can not help but empathize and completely comprehend the depth of feelings these people are having to deal with. This film is about Matt King, a wealthy landowner with property inherited from a royal matriarchal generation. George Clooney portrays fatherhood completely competently and naturally illustrating how in Hawaiian culture, women are not only needed, but wanted, as opposed to western culture eg. America, where women don't feel needed or wanted. In patriarchal cultures, men (unless they are rich) as well as women, struggle to achieve. This is a cathartic film.
