I was just wondering why this film wasn't filmed in Tonga, because it was filmed on Rarotonga, Cook Islands ( which yes is a different country).
shareNot many movies are actually filmed where they are supposed to be taking place. I don't exactly know why. Because it's more convienent.
shareThe DVD has a "making of" show that explains where it was filmed and why.
shareIt was filmed on Rarotonga because Tonga no longer looks/feels like the secluded island that it did when the film was supposed to take place. It was also a matter of facilities and access for the film crew, which was preferable on Raro.
shareSo how large I wonder is the LDS population today in Tonga. I also wonder why no other church had went there before the LDS church, I mean it seemed either the Tongs people and their native beliefs of the LDS. I would think that another church would have went their to evangelize before the LDS church. I wonder also about how it is there now, if it is mostly LDS.
shareI know it's an old post, but the answer is on Wikipedia:
Free Wesleyans/Methodists (38,052 or 37%)
LDS Church (Mormons) (17,109 or 17%)
Roman Catholics (15,992 or 16%)
Free Church of Tonga (11,599 or 11%)
Interestingly enough, Tonga is the country with the largest percentage of Mormons above the United States (but well below Utah).
Tonga also has a Temple (not to be confused with a chapel). It was the 25th constructed temple (of well over 100 now) and was built in the early 1980s.
http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/nukualofa/
If you want a answer that is the known answer its because the technology in tonga isn't advanced enough to soot their needs, they also couldn't get the queen of tongas permission.And Raro Tonga looks exactly like tonga.
shareAnother sect not noted besides LDS is 7th Day Adventism. I know this simply by virtue of shared housing in Kalihi on Oahu for a year with a contemporary (born same year '44 as me) named Taniela Pepa from Tonga. He also had lived in Aukland, New Zedland and in Yakima, Washington where I also spent some time. Tonga was originally known in Jas Cook's time as "The Friendly Isles" and Capt. Wm. Bligh in his longboat navigation to Timor gave it a wide berth since the inhabitants were the cannibilistic "unfriendly".
sharethey also couldn't get the queen of tongas permission
Probably because Tonga has become too much of a tourist haven in recent years and the Cook Islands were more like Tonga was in the time when the movie was set.
share