Evocative though the documentary may be for a Western audience, The Hungry
Tide and comparable films like There Once Was An Island (2010) have
limited value in raising awareness of global warming among Pacific Islanders
themselves, especially journalists and those in the media, according to an
Auckland-based i-Kiribati researcher and newspaper publisher on climate
change in his country. Taberannang Korauaba argues documentaries are generally
perceived in some Pacific communities as ‘entertainment’. The message
is not taken seriously. Korauaba, editor of The Kiribati Independent,
adds: ‘There is no Kiribati word for documentaries’ (2013, p. 306). He also
notes that the audience is conveyed to an outer island, Beru, where protagonist
Maria Timon’s entire family live. He argues that the producers could
have explored the interesting traditional legends to make The Hungry Tide a
‘well-informed and researched documentary’.