Once Were Warriors by Lee Tamahori (1994)
17 March 2009This film showing hard life and domestic violence in Maori culture blew me away when I first saw it, and it was equally as powerful seeing it again now. This adaption of Alan Duff’s bestselling novel is powerful and sad. It is difficult to believe that people live like this, even when you know they do. The cast is perfect, and we see from the brutality to the caring, even if the brother is given a short thrift in the film. This was certainly one of the best films of that year, and one of the best films ever made, a powerful film that is a must see, and if you have seen I would recommend going back and seeing it again, though don’t expect not to be moved.
This is the story of the Heke family, a family of Maori’s living in the slums of Aukland. The family is pretty disfunctional, with the father being the quick to fight and quick to party Jake (Temuera Morrison who went on to play Jango Fett in the Star Wars prequel films), his wife Beth (Rena Owen) who tries to do good, but also loves to party with the best of them, their estranged eldest son Nig (Julian Arahanga) who hates his father, and is ready to leave, the always getting into trouble second son Mark who calls himself Boogie (Taungaroa Emile) and the 13 year old Grace (Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell) who is always writing stories and telling them to her 2 younger siblings, and is really the glue that holds the family together. Grace’s best friend is a homeless boy who lives in a burnt out car under an underpass, and who she always goes to read to because he can’t read. Nig leaves home to join a Maori street gang, who go for full body tattoos, and Boogie has a court date, and got picked up again by cops, so things aren’t looking good. Jake comes home with a bunch of fish, and wants to have a good time, but finally admits to his wife, that he has been fired, and she freaks out, so he goes to the bar and drinks with his group of buddies, then brings the whole gang back to his house for a party after getting into a major fight. The young kids try and sleep upstairs, as Boogie has a big day, but it is hard with all the noise. And when Beth pissed off Jake, he literally beats the living piss out of her, before forcibly taking her to bed.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS….
Beth awakes to find her whole face is black and bruised and puffed up, and knows she can’t go to court like this, so she sends Boogie with Grace to go to court. Boogie still thinks his mom will show, but when she doesn’t Boogie is taken away from his parents to be raised by the state. Of course when Beth finds out she is morose, but there is no getting to Jake, and telling him just makes him angry again.
Boogie does start to improve though, as he learns about Maori culture.
Grace had promised to write to Boogie, but then Beth decides they should go see him, and when she talks to Jake he gives her his gambling money and they are able to rent a car to go and see their son. They go and try to get Nig, but he is not leaving his new family, so they the rest drive off, but Jake stops at the bar for one drink, and never comes out. Finally Beth goes in to get him, but he won’t come out, so she goes with the family to get a cab and return home.
At another of Jake’s rowdy parties with his friends, Grace is raped by Jake’s best friend ’Uncle’ Bully (Cliff Curtis). And she ends up running away, and Beth goes out looking for her. Grace goes to see her best friend, and when her best friend tries to kiss her she freaks out and goes back home, then Bully tries to get her to kiss him again, she freaks, and Jake almost starts beating her, but finally lets up, and she goes out back. Beth returns home, and Jake tells her that Grace has retuned home and is out back, but when Beth goes out she finds that Grace has hung herself.
Beth calls her family, and says she wants to bring Grace home, since Beth had been a Maori princess who had gone with the born of slaves Jake because she loved him, and turned her back on her people, but now she has to return. Nig and Boogie go, and show themselves to be good kids, even while Jake sits in the bar and drinks with his friends.
Beth puts Garce’s notebook back together, since Jake had ripped it up, and finds that Bully had done the rape, so she goes to confront Jake, who at first doesn’t believe it, but when he reads it, he starts beating Bully and stabs him until the cops come.
Beth gets her family, including Grace’s best friend who she takes in, and tells them they will return to the Maori village, leaving Jake sobbing and saying she will be back.
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Wow, what a moving film. So sad, but such a good film. So sad that such a noble people can be reduced so low, but so great that some of them can find themselves. Really an amazing film, though certainly not the New Zealand I saw when I was in Wellington!
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