Word: maori
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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ETHNICITY 88% chance of being European; 12% Maori...
...Zealand's Maori are caught at a nexus of civilizations. Ever since the British conceded land rights to the great Maori warriors, the aborted attempt to dominate the island has translated into a process of westernization which threatens to complete the job. Traditionalists always have expressed their dismay at the needless pain the cultural division has so evidently caused. Now Maori artists like Alan Duff, on whose book the movie is based, and director Lee Tamahori are joining in the fight...
...thought Maori would go see the film--it seemed like something meant more to promote white middle class prejudice than to call for change. But Tamahori, who is himself descended in part from the Maori, took the gamble and won. Maori have not only been willing to see this blunt and brutal portrait of themselves, it has been Maori, over whelmingly, who have made Tamahori's debut film the best selling film in New Zealand history, surpassing even "The Piano" and "Jurassic Park" at the box office...
What begins looking like one more film fetishizing violence ends with a palpable, some will say trite, proclamation of self-importance. It is the realization that there is nothing Western culture can do to save the Maori from decadence and decay that they could not do better themselves. By first flinging bits of raw, unfiltered indictments of urban life at its audience, "Warriors" depresses the spirit in order to redeem it with a glimmer of hope in the end. While violence serves a dual purpose, to caress the fetish as well as to sicken the heart, it is the latter...
...effect is sobering, but in terms of the movie's agenda, it also appears contradictory. If the movie targets Maori who actually live like this, how are they to dispense with the message that barroom justice is good while internalizing the message that violence breeds violence, domestic or otherwise...