Easter Island is the most remote inhabited place in the world, a dot in the Pacific 1,000 miles from the closest populated island and 2,000 miles from the coast of Chile. Best known to outsiders for its monumental moais, the island has been the home of the Rapanui people for a millennium. Mining a rich collection of documentaries, amateur movies, and archival audio recordings, Solitary Land articulates a critique of ethnographic film and colonialism even as it shows various aspects of Rapanui life today. Focusing on the island’s modest prison raises the question: Where would a fugitive go? In colonial days some Rapanui, isolated and virtually enslaved, tried to escape in small boats, a desperate and dangerous journey recounted by survivors. With hard cuts and a quiet, thoughtful pace, this unusual documentary disrupts a tradition of trying to explain mystery and demonstrates that we all still have much to learn.  TBW