Word: maori
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...Once Were Warriors" is the carrion call to the carcass of Maori culture; and its vision means to shake you to the core...
...scene sequencing. Emotions come from the gut, unconscious of reason or purpose. The characters only know that life is rotten to the core, and that only good people can make it seem any better. It's just that simple; it's movie making by people who understand what destitute Maori relate to, and for precisely this reason, "Warriors" has been a smashing success...
...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...
Once they were warriors, indeed, and fought the British to a standstill. Today, in the city slums, Maori males are dispossessed chieftains whose search for manhood leads them to modern variations on tribal traditions. The film is a social tragedy, observed in love and pain. It's also a study of class animosities within a race. Beth was a princess of the Tainui tribe, and the elders disapproved of her marriage to Jake, who comes from "a long line of slaves...