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Once On This Island is a
captivating legend of romance between a peasant
girl and a rich city boy whom she saves from death.
Ti Moune, an orphan girl, longs for something
better and is looking for the proverbial "knight."
When she rescues Daniel Beauxhomme from his crashed
car, she sees it as a sign from the gods that he
was meant for her, however is taken back to the
land of the grande-hommes. Ti Moune, determined to
follow her love, journeys to his part of the
island, only to find him betrothed to another of
"his kind." Along the way she is guided and toyed
with by the gods whom her people believe in; Asaka,
goddess of the earth; Agwe, god of water; Erzulie,
goddess of love; and Papa Ge, the god of death. In
the end, Ti Moune's love shatters the wall that
separates the people of the island.
This calypso-flavored re-telling
of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson
opens on an island in the French Antilles
(Caribbean) where villagers comfort a little girl
with the story of the orphan Ti Moune. As with many
legends, the storytellers are passing this story on
to the next generation so that they may learn of
how one girl's love could withstand even death
itself. This story depicts the vast differences of
life between the grande-hommes and the peasants.
The peasants who believe that fate is left to the
gods hearing their prayers. And the grande-hommes
who believe that fate in their own power to create
their own fate. The grande-hommes are remnants of
the French occupation of the Caribbean during the
time of Napoleon, and resent being left behind.
Whereas the peasants have the distinction of being
the Native peoples of the island.
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