A plane flies over the vast Pacific Ocean, its dark surface illuminated by millions of stars. The journey through Fiji is a poetic, mosaic-like narrative of the little-known lives of Pacific islanders, interwoven with the memories of a fictional narrator (Iona – Tilda Swinton) and her reflections on the longings and illusions of the Western mind. The great canoes in the Fiji Museum tell of ocean-going people and of Indians who crossed the ‘dark water’ as indentured labourers. The indigenous islanders, once feared warriors, now co-exist with as many Indians, with old and new Chinese, other Pacific Islanders and the descendants of sandalwood traders and planters. Today, small planes, buses, and cargo ships carry locals and travellers from towns with decaying traces of British colonial rule, to cane fields in red volcanic earth, from dark rainforest where mythical ancestors reside, to coral atolls threatened by ever more violent hurricanes. The narrative threads are both the dignity of human life and Iona’s quest. After Iona appears in person, she travels to a faraway atoll. She immerses herself in village life. And when her mind grows still, she finds her Heart of Light.Cynthia Beatt
