Historical Accuracy Issues
The film can be considered a condensed history of the collapse of the Easter Island civilisation. The struggle between the Long Ears and Short Ears is derived from the legend of the hanau epe (long ears), who are supposed to have been almost all killed by the hanau momoko (short ears), leaving a sole survivor, as in the film. Various interpretations of this story have been made, ranging from a class struggle, similar to that depicted in the film, to a clash between different migrant peoples, with incomers fighting natives. There is no single accepted interpretation, and many scholars consider the story to be either pure myth, or such a garbled version of real events as to be ultimately indecipherable. It has also been argued that the names mean "stocky" and "slim" peoples, not long and short eared ones.
The deforestation is a fact of the island's history, which seems to have caused widespread famine due to ecological collapse, and a catastrophic drop in population, accompanied by wars between clans for control of dwindling resources.
The plot mixes elements of two periods: the era of the moai and the later Birdman Cult. If the conflict between the Long Ears and the Short Ears was real, then it was over long before the Birdman Cult began.
The name Rapa Nui, commonly used, may not have been the original native name; that may have been Te Pito te Henua ("the Navel of the World"), a phrase used in the film, though there are other possibilities.
Read more about this topic: Rapa Nui (film)
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