Daily Telegraph (Surry Hills, Australia)
June 20, 2002
Win for good guys.
Byline: MICHAEL BODEY

David Wenham's role as a heroic priest came with more turbulence than
expected, writes MICHAEL BODEY.

The plot of the film Molokai: The Story of Father Damien is extreme, made even
more incredible because it's a true story.

But the story behind the making of Australian Paul Cox's mini epic is even
more incredible.

``A way I describe it is Lord of the Flies and I was Piggy but I didn't have
the conch shell,'' says Molokai's star, David Wenham.

Wenham plays the film's virtuous subject, a 19th-century Belgian priest who
volunteered to go to the Pacific island, Molokai, to care for a colony of
lepers.

Consequently, Father Damien is a Belgian national hero. The film about him was
financed there, and small film industry that Belgium is, it became the most
expensive film that country has ever produced.

``It was a huge undertaking for them,'' says Wenham. And the cast, crew and
shooting locations reflect that.

The cast includes Kris Kristofferson,Peter O'Toole, Derek Jacobi, Sam Neill,
Leo McKern and, er, Kate Ceberano and the film was shot mostly on Hawaiian islands.

Yet Molokai, filmed in 1998 and premiered in Belgium in 1999 is only now
seeing the light of a projector in Paul Cox's homeland.

``Why it's taken so long to be released is a wonderful irony,'' he says.

``A film about a man who gives up everything to help people who are far less
fortunate than himself, somebody who's quite altruistic, [and] the film got
caught up because of money and arguments about money,'' says Wenham.

``The producers were very strange individuals, to the say the least.

``And after having hired Paul and knowing what sort of filmmaker Paul is -- a
very honest, truthful filmmaker -- they wanted something totally different,''
he adds.

``A film about a priest who helps people who have contracted leprosy and they
came out with comments like `The film has too many lepers', gives you an
indication of where their heads were.''

The Belgian producers took the film from Cox and edited it themselves
(apparently disastrously) before Cox won his case in Belgium to take the film
back.

The Australian release is his version, albeit the only one he could salvage
after the Belgians cut the original negatives.

It was obviously infuriating for Wenham, the Marrickville boy who, in 1998,
was yet to have the ABC TV series Sea Change and the films, Better than Sex
and The Bank.

``The whole process was frustrating: making it, having to deal with
incompetent producers on a daily basis for four months in Hawaii,'' he says.

``Paul and myself were working under pressure the whole time. In a strange way
it sort of helped my character but I never want to go through that situation
again.''

Despite the tribulations he says the film still works.

``It's a beautiful film and if you go with it, it's a moving experience.''

Of course, the story and character arc of ``a simple, ordinary man who happens
to be a priest who through little things achieves extraordinary things'' would
be appealing to any actor.

There was also opportunity to film on the island where the story unfolded.
Molokai remains home to a community of people afflicted with Hansen's Disease,
or leprosy. The community owns the island and gave Cox permission to film
there.

The islanders eventually offered to appear on screen. Wenham says this was
amazing as ``the idea of being photographed is an enormous thing for them''.

``Ultimately the film does become their film,'' he says.

``I like to think of the line from that novel: `It was the best of times, it
was the worst of times,'' Wenham says today recalling the filming experience.

``And I'm so glad I went through that experience because to be involved in
that story was fabulous. To meet those people, the cast was great but then to
work with Paul -- incredible. And then become part of that community at
Kaluapapa was something I'll always remember.''