Movie Moloka'i about Fr. Damien

[TheAdvocate]

For those of you who have seen movie, Molokai: the Story of Fr. Damien (1999), I am confused by one scene. In it, a bunch of people are jumping out a ship and Fr. Damien is scrambling to save them from drowning. I understand what is going on in this scene. Why are they jumping ship?

 

[therese14]

I don’t know there is such movie. Thanks for letting me know

 

[Falco]

It is many years since I saw this excellent movie, starring an Australian actor, but if I remember rightly, it is as the outcast lepers are being delivered to the leper colony. There is no wharf for the ship to land the passengers, so they have to jump overboard and make their own way ashore, where they are attacked by the lepers for their food and possessions.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

I just watched this movie via Netflix, and that is correct - because of the fear of leprosy, there was no dock at the settlement and those being offloaded had to brave the surf.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Thanks for the replies so far. But does that mean that the captain knew from the start that once he gets close to the island, this would be the case? Wasn’t the whole purpose of the transport to get them safely to the other side? I just don’t understand why there would be no docking station on the other side. Wouldn’t such a wharf be run by lepers themselves? (it would make sense)

And yes, great movie. It changes you.

 

[Falco]

Lepers were dead men walking, and nobody wanted to know them - that is a historic fact throughout the ages. They were always driven out of town to fend for themselves. To build a wharf would have needed money, tools and skilled labour. Those lepers didn’t even have adequate housing, let alone being able to build a massive wharf out into the sea. Ask yourself, could I, with my skills today, have built an adequate wharf into rough seas? There is your answer - these people were already ill, suffering from malnutrition and exposure, and despair.

The captain knew about the dodgy landing conditions, of course. He already had a boat full of lepers, so probably was no more scared of getting leprosy than he already was, but I am sure he was scared of being overwhelmed by the desperate people ashore.

 

[7_Sorrows]

It is many years since I saw this excellent movie, starring an Australian actor, but if I remember rightly, it is as the outcast lepers are being delivered to the leper colony. There is no wharf for the ship to land the passengers, so they have to jump overboard and make their own way ashore, where they are attacked by the lepers for their food and possessions.

Oh that sounds so terrible. Those poor people!!! What a terrible ordeal.
I don’t know very much about Father Damien. I would like to see this novie someday. He was selfless in his work with the lepers.