Once Were Warriors [1994]
Director: Lee Tamahori
Actor: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga, Taungaroa Emile, Cliff Curtis
.: Synopsis
A very raw and visceral film about Beth (Owen) and Jake (Morrison), two Maori no longer living among their tribe due to the elders disapproving of their union. Beth was a special girl, offered the blessing of the elders, which happens only once a generation, and Jake a descendent of a long line of former slaves. Their life sees high highs and low lows as they live in poverty and general dissatisfaction. They have several children together; Nig (Arahanga), the eldest son, who is reluctantly seeking for opportunities within the local Maori gang. Grace (Kerr-Bell), the eldest daughter, is a young and intelligent girl, and is the only one in the family that shows any academic interest. She’s also the one that takes care of the younger kids. Boogie (Emile) is still a young boy who is basically good at heart but is hanging out with the wrong people. And then there are Polly and Huata, the two youngest kids. They live in dilapidated, government subsidized housing along the highway.
Jake has a violent temper, especially when he drinks, and he drinks a lot, often inviting his friends back to his house to continue the drinking and singing when the bar closes. All the while the kids to lie awake listening to the drunken debauchery downstairs, unable to sleep. Beth is hardly a saint, she drinks, too, and while she’s clever, and generally doesn’t agree with her husband, she’s susceptible to his charms and to the partying, and so eventually gives in and enjoys the debauchery as much as her husband does. She’s dissatisfied with her life, though, and the dissatisfaction deepens when Jake announces he’s quit his job since the dole (social security) pays out only 17 pounds a week less than his wages. She’s what Jake calls a “smart-mouth,” and she regularly gets on his nerves to the point that he severely assaults her, and when she voices her dissatisfaction with him quitting his job, he puts his hands on her.
Severely bruised and beaten up she misses Boogie’s court-date and he is placed in a boy’s home run by a fellow Maori, a strong, old man who teaches him the depth and ways of the tribe’s traditional ways. He even goes so far as teaching him the Maori martial art, dance and songs. Meanwhile, Grace is deepening her connection with her best friend, an orphaned, homeless, Maori boy who lives close by in an abandoned car underneath an overpass.
.: Spoilers
One night, as Jake’s friends have loaded up with liquor and have demolished the house with their partying, one of Jake’s best friends, Bully, who has known Grace all her life, sneaks into her bedroom and rapes her. Grace runs away from home and joins her friend underneath the overpass, smoking weed to forget about their problems, he kisses her, and she misunderstands the gesture as a sexual advance (which it wasn’t) and she freaks out, saying that he’s just like everyone else. She wanders the city for hours while Beth is looking for her (and Jake is once again partying at their house, not really caring that his daughter is gone.) When Grace once again returns to the house, she’s confronted by her father and his friends, all drunk, and “Uncle Bully” asking her for a kiss, like he used to do before he raped her. She refuses, and her father almost assaults her for her disrespect. She runs out when Jake’s friends manage to calm him down, and she goes into the backyard where she hangs herself. When Beth returns Jake dispassionately tells her that Grace came back and went out the back again. When Beth goes into the backyard and discovers Grace hanging from a branch of a tree, Jake is paralysed, and once again his friends are the ones that act, helping Beth cut her down from the tree.
All of this gives Grace enough strength to defy Jake, determining that Grace should be buried on tribal lands. Jake refuses to go back to the tribe, and refuses to attend her funeral. The funeral is very nice, with Boogie and his group performing a special Haka (tribal dance) to commemorate Grace’s passing, and indicating how he’s grown and matured. Jake is at the local bar with Bully and another friend, who both tell him that it’s not too late to attend his daughter’s funeral. He refuses, and instead continues to drink himself into a stupor.
After the funeral, Beth heads home with her children, as well as Grace’s best friend to enjoy some food together. One of the kids asks for Beth to read from Grace’s notebook – a book she carried around in which she wrote her stories, indicating that she wanted to write a book one day. When Beth enthusiastically opens the notebook to read from it, she finds Grace’s final words, explaining how Bully raped her, and how she couldn’t live with what happened. Furious, she lets Nig take her to the bar where Jake is still drinking, to confront Bully. When Bully denies the accusations, Jake angrily intervenes on behalf of his friend Bully. Nig steps in, protecting his mother from his father and urging him to read the book. When Jake does so he realises the truth and takes out his wrath on Bully. (Not pretty.)
All of this gives Beth enough strength to finally leave her bleak life, take her children and return to the tribe.
.: Opinion
It doesn’t happen very often that I write such a synopsis of the entire film, and it should be taken as a good indication of how moved I was by this tale. Don’t get me wrong, the quality of the film isn’t very good, especially the acting and dialogue, but the story is a moving one. Rena Owen has a weird gift to appear stunningly beautiful, yet damaged and worn out at the same time. Temuera Morrison is tough and pathetic, and Julian Arahanga is a big paradox as well. There’s no hero in this film, no person that you could offer your support to, which makes the watch rather unpleasant, even without all the acts of depravity and violence.
Also, from what I understand, the lower-class Maori in New Zealand often live in poverty and without much chance of escaping the violence, poverty and alcoholism that runs rampant through their society. Interestingly enough, these are the same problems that the Aboriginals deal with in Australia. Coincidence? Probably not.