Word: tamahori
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Dates: during 1995-1995
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With its relentless banality and gritty despair, director Lee Tamahori's debut film marches on with a mission irrespective of effete artistic considerations. There is no elegant dialogue or complex 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...
...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...
...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 purpose Tamahori hopes will resonate most deeply with his audiences...
...movie's biggest problem aside from a weak screen play is the conflict between its message and its means. Chicken wire over the windows tells us that barroom brawls are a common problem, but Tamahori confuses the issue by alternating uplifting fights of just vengeance with drunken displays of uncontrolled power...